Restorative Justice and Victims > Letters of Explanation/Apology
Letters
of Apology are often used as a means to communicate
the thoughts and feelings of young people. You may
ask, why is the Young Person writing to apologise?
It could be to put the offence into context to show
what has been learnt since or, how feelings and
attitudes have changed.
Sometimes the young person may not feel remorse (and
we certainly wouldn’t encourage an apology that
wasn’t meaningful). In these circumstances they have
the opportunity to explain:
-
What they were thinking/feeling at the time of the offence?
-
What they have done on their order?
-
What they have learnt differently that might mean next time they are in a similar situation they would act differently?
-
How they think it might have impacted on the victim?
-
How it has impacted on their family?
From a victim’s perspective they provide an opportunity for reassurance, to have their questions answered and in some cases to open up a dialogue between the parties.
EXAMPLE LETTER #1
This
letter was written by a young man after he was
convicted of common assault and sentenced to a Reparation
Order. As well as community reparation at
Kirklees Neighbourhood Housing he was required to
compose this letter not only to apologise for his
actions but to explain why he did it. -
see
the letter here
EXAMPLE LETTER #2
This letter
was composed by a young person who the Youth Court
sentenced to a 9-month Referral Order for assault
with intent to rob. The letter formed part of the
Referral Order contract.
-
see
the letter here
EXAMPLE LETTER #3
The Youth
Court sentenced this particular young person to a
4-month Referral Order for four offences of shop
theft from different retailers. The young person
took part in a productive direct mediation session
with one of the victims and subsequently put
together
the attached letter of apology to one of
the others. The young person in question also
carried out several sessions of indirect/community
reparation at the
Oxfam
charity shop.
