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Programs

Restorative Justice Program

Restorative Justice represents a promising new practice, which provides a framework for understanding and responding to crime and victimization in society. Restorative Justice emphasizes the importance of elevating the role of crime victims and community members through more active involvement in the justice program by:

holding the offenders directly accountable to the people and communities they have harmed.
restoring the emotional and material losses of victims.
providing a range of opportunities for dialogue, negotiation, and problem solving, whenever possible which can all lead to greater community safety, social harmony, and peace for all involved.

Through a process of facilitated or meditated dialogue, restorative interventions have been found to provide many benefits to victims as they are able to receive information about the crime, express the impact of the crime and gain a greater sense of closure, including some form of restitution in many cases.

Our processes include:

Accountability Conferences
Group Accountability Conferences
Victim Offender Conferences
Community Conferences
Sentencing Circles
Reintegration/Healing Circles

Community Service Orders

The Community Service Order Program is set up to make available supervised work settings for youth who have to complete community service hours assigned by the Youth Courts.

Public Information And Awareness

Valley Restorative Justice staff are available to make presentations to community groups to disseminate information on the programs and services offered in this area.

Healing Approaches To Senior Abuse ( HASA )

Healing Approaches to Senior Abuse (HASA) is a group of people that have been working on developing an appropriate response and delivery of services that would address potential criminal activity causing harm to seniors. The Annapolis Valley and the Tri-County area of Yarmouth have been chosen as the two pilot areas of this project to provide a healing approach to seniors living these locations. In April 2013, several HASA members travelled to Ontario to gain more information about the use of a restorative approach in cases of senior abuse. We are confident that vulnerable seniors will benefit from a restorative approach and the action plans the HASA group has been creating.