Restorative Justice: Turning the Tide

Later this week around 160 restorative justice practitioners from around New Zealand converge on Wellington for the 2010 National Restorative Justice Conference. Participants will hear from senior political and legal figures and a range of skilled practitioners at the conference, organised by Restorative Justice Aotearoa (RJA) in conjunction with the Ministry of Justice.

RJA Chairperson, Mike Hinton said that the Conference theme “Restorative Justice: Turning the Tide”, will be explored through a programme of keynote speakers and workshop/presentations.

“This will include engaging with local, regional and global communities, and learning about emerging trends in restorative justice. Importantly, the conference will also involve how organisations and practitioners can translate this information to advance their practice. The conference will certainly encourage debate and will also give participants an opportunity for networking and interaction across the restorative justice community,” Mike Hinton said.

Keynote speakers include: Justice Minister, Hon Simon Power; Chief District Court Judge, Judge Russell Johnson; the President of the Law Commission, Rt. Hon Sir Geoffrey Palmer; Maori Party Co-Leader, Hon Tariana Turia; Labour Justice Spokesperson, Hon Lianne Dalziel and Parole Board Chair, Judge Sir David Carruthers. Prof Kevin P. Clements who is Chair in Peace & Conflict Studies and Director of the National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Otago will deliver the Theme address.

Mike Hinton said the conference also offers an impressive mix of workshop presenters. “They come from a wide range of perspectives and contexts such as victims support, education restorative practices, police, neighbourhood justice centre, post sentence conferencing in prisons, research and of course pre-sentencing rj services,” he said.

The conference will be held at the Brentwood Hotel, Kilbirnie, Wellington, on Friday 26th March and Saturday 27th March 2010.

ENDS

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