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Appendix A: The University of Ulster’s ‘Balanced Model’ 17
The University of Ulster’s ‘Balanced Model’ Approach emphasises the critical importance of informed skilful practice.
We are committed to a holistic model which meets the needs of victims, of people who commit offences and of the
wider community people are part of.
This model examines the triangular relationships between the victims of crime, people who commit criminal offences
and the wider community. It focuses on how these relationships affect the quality of each party’s lives. The tension
and interdependence between the three sides are what hold the triangle together and create the space within it.
Premises for Restorative Justice
• The restorative justice process is based upon respect for the rights and equality of each individual,
upon the value of the diversity and upon recognition of the interdependent nature of society.
• Crime damages relationships and causes harm to victims and those close to them, to the children and
young people who offend and those close to them and to communities.
• Crime creates an obligation to make things right.
• Repairing harm and restoring relationships are the aims of restorative justice.
• Communities, children and young people who offend, and victims, if they wish, all have important
contributions to make to an effective and just response to crime.
• The victim’s perspective is critical to developing a plan to repair the harm caused by crime.
• Children and young people are enabled to take responsibility for their offending and for the action
required both to repair the harm they have caused and to reduce the risk of their re-offending.
• The community provides for the well-being, safety, and inclusion of its members including both victims
and the children and young people who offend.
• Victims and the children and young people who offend are members of communities.
In developing our ‘Restorative Approaches in Schools’ modules at access and postgraduate levels we are critically
examining how this model, developed within a criminal justice context, can be developed within the organisational
structures of schools.
17 Chapman, T J. & Campbell, H. A.