Case Study
Online Restorative Justice Training for RCMP
Indigenous Justice Programs throughout Canada have had tremendous success facilitating diverted cases that come directly from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) – reducing recidivism by up to 43%. Nevertheless, these referrals simply are not occurring at a rate that can make a dramatic impact on the system overall. Justice Canada contacted Just Outcomes to coordinate and design a training, specifically for the RCMP and other law enforcement officers, with an intent to aid in their awareness and willingness to divert Indigenous persons who have broken the law to community-based diversion programs (both Indigenous justice and restorative justice programs).
Just Outcomes designed an engagement strategy that included interviews with Indigenous Justice Programs and the RCMP to elicit information regarding what is needed, and how an online training might attend to those needs. Through the partnership with Justice Canada, Indigenous Justice Program (IJP) and the RCMP, Just Outcomes designed an online training that included information about:
- What restorative justice is and what community-based pre-charge diversion options exist.
- What the benefits of community-based programs such as IJP are and why the RCMP should divert to them.
- Activities and services delivered by community-based programs such as IJP, and how to locate and contact these programs.
- How to handle diversions to these programs, including from a technical and administrative standpoint using RCMP processes, procedures, and systems.
- The potential role of restorative justice in the laying of breaches and alternatives.
This content for the training has been incorporated into the RCMP online training for use as an education and awareness training tool. The RCMP has also used the materials developed, along with the findings from the interviews with the Indigenous Justice Programs, to inform their work more broadly for expanding diversion access for Indigenous persons who have broken the law to community-based programs.