What progress is being made towards increasing the use of restorative justice in the justice system.

The Scottish Executive is promoting the concept of restorative justice through a number of differentinitiatives. For example, £2 million was made available in March 2002 to developrestorative justice services for offenders under 16. This will be supplemented byfurther measures to tackle anti-social behaviour and youth crime. In addition, theprogrammes, which support the Youth Court pilot in Hamilton, includerestorative justice principles.
In the adult justice system, a numberof well-established mediation and reparation schemes are funded by the Executiveas part of diversion from prosecution services. These operate in Aberdeen, EdinburghMidlothian and North and South Lanarkshire.
The ScottishPolice Service received £250,000 for training and to support a Scotland-wide systemof restorative cautions in December 2002 and a further £250,000 will support workto identify good practice and the production of guidance this autumn.
The victim’sperspective is critical to such schemes and the Victims Steering Group, chairedby Hugh Henry, will discuss restorative justice issues at its next meeting in October.