RJS4C: Restorative justice referrals in 2023 remain below pre-pandemic levels

14th June 2024

Restorative Justice: Strategies for Change (RJS4C) has published a new analysis exploring the use of restorative justice in Ireland in the 2023 calendar year. This analysis marks the fifth year in which RJS4C has conducted a mapping exercise of the use of restorative justice in Ireland, focusing on cases being referred within the context of the criminal justice process.

New data for 2023 show that, despite the full unwinding of COVID-19 restrictions, the restorative justice caseload (excluding restorative cautions delivered by An Garda Síochána) remained well below pre-pandemic levels in 2023.

2023 data overview:

• Participating services reported receiving a total of 447 referrals in 2023 - well below pre-pandemic levels.
• At least 83 cases were completed in 2023 involving some form of victim dialogue.
• Courts still prevent over 99% of cases from being assessed for suitability pre-sentence.
• Most victims are not enabled to decide if restorative justice is right for them.

Due to data that was previously not available on Garda Restorative Cautions in 2021 and 2022 now being released, RJS4C has now reported that there were 416 restorative cautions in 2021 and 568 in 2022. This compares with 125 in 2019, and suggests a reduction from 716 in 2020. Ireland saw a total of 811 cases in 2021 and 981 in 2022 (846 in 2019 and 1056 in 2020). Figures for 2023 have not been reported yet.

RJS4C has reason to believe there may be an uptick in cases in 2024.

Read the full analysis and dataset on the 'Restorative Justice: Strategies for Change' website.