The Use of Restorative Justice to Address Criminal Offending in Canada

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Restorative Justice (RJ) is based on an understanding that crime causes harm to people and relationships, and it affects communities. RJ is an approach to justice that seeks to repair harm by providing an opportunity for those harmed and those who take responsibility for the harm to communicate about causes, circumstances, and impacts of crime, and to address their needs. RJ seeks to foster healing, reparation and reintegration, while also seeking to prevent future harm.Footnote 1

Restorative Justice Processes in Canada

Chart 1: Cases accepted into RJ processes by offence type, Canada, 2018/2019Footnote 4
Chart 1: Cases accepted into RJ processes by offence type, Canada, 2018/2019
Chart 1: Cases accepted into RJ processes by offence type, Canada, 2018/2019 – Text version

This is a vertical bar graph with five categories representing accepted restorative justice cases by type of offence. Each vertical bar is in the same light shade of green.

The first bar is for crimes against property and indicates 51%, the second bar is crimes against the person and indicates 36%, the third bar is for driving offences and indicates 10%, the fourth bar is for narcotics offences and indicates 2%, and the fifth bar is for administration of justice and indicates 1%.

Cases in the Canadian Court System

Chart 2: Cases completed in adult criminal courts and youth courts by offence type, Canada, 2018/2019Footnote 6
Chart 2: Cases completed in adult criminal courts and youth courts by offence type, Canada, 2018/2019
Chart 2: Cases completed in adult criminal courts and youth courts by offence type, Canada, 2018/2019 – Text version

This is a vertical bar graph with seven categories representing completed cases in adult criminal courts and youth courts by offence type. Each category of offence type includes two vertical bars, one in light green that represents adult criminal court cases and one in light grey that represents youth court cases.

The first category is for crimes against the person and the first green bar representing adult criminal court cases indicates 26% while the youth court cases in grey indicates 41%.

The second category is for crimes against property and the first green bar representing adult criminal court cases indicates 23% while the youth court cases in grey indicates 29%.

The third category is for administration of justice and the first green bar representing adult criminal court cases indicates 22% while the youth court cases in grey indicates 9%.

The fourth category is for driving offences and the first green bar representing adult criminal court cases indicates 12% while the youth court cases in grey indicates 2%.

The fifth category is for drug-related offences and the first green bar representing adult criminal court cases indicates 4% while the youth court cases in grey indicates 5%.

The sixth category is for other Criminal Code offences and the first green bar representing adult criminal court cases indicates 7% and the youth court cases in grey indicates 7%.

The seventh category is for other federal offences and the first green bar representing adult criminal court cases indicates 5% and the youth court cases in grey indicates 8%.

Restorative Justice Research in Canada

For further information on the findings and/or surveys mentioned in this document please contact the Department of Justice’s Research and Statistics Division (rsd.drs@justice.gc.ca)