The Restorative Justice Centre (RJC), is based at AUT University's Institute of Public Policy.  This is a multi-disciplinary centre of excellence for training, education and research into restorative justice theory and practice.

This centre has been set up to  meet an overdue need for independent training, education and research on restorative justice at a tertiary level. New Zealand is a recognised leader in restorative justice and in this respect the RJC will play a strategic role in spearheading research and education for restorative justice both in New Zealand and overseas.  The RJC plans to offer a range of education and training programmes, with particular emphasis in the development phase on the training requirements for restorative justice practitioners.  There is also an increasing interest in postgraduate qualifications focusing on New Zealand based research and comparative studies.

This programme is aimed at the following:

• Restorative justice practitioners – facilitators, social workers, lawyers, youth justice workers, educators, police, community mediators.
• Students wanting to add a new dimension to a diploma or degree, either at AUT or elsewhere through cross-crediting.
• Overseas parties wanting to study restorative justice in a New Zealand setting, given our unique contribution to the worldwide movement and the strong, practitioner-driven nature of our approach

The RJC is governed by a Governance board which meets bi-monthly and is made up of representatives from the community including  Judiciary, Education sector, RJ practitioners, Police, Ministry of Justice,  and AUT academics specialising in Social science, Social Development and research. A small management group has been compiled from this Governance Board which meets as required.

On February 12 2007 Islay Brown commenced as the Manager of the centre.  Islay was previously the Restorative Justice Co-ordinator for 6 years at the  Auckland District Court having carried out the recruitment and training of Auckland  facilitators within the pilot and Court Referred Programme over a period of 5 years and the monitoring of the provider groups over the whole period.

Currently the centre is consulting with practitioners and agencies involved in Restorative Justice to assist in the design and level of a tertiary qualification. They are calculating what will be the appropriate level in the commencement of a range of qualifications for practitioners.  

Islay welcomes your contact and is happy to talk to you about the centre or any course short or long that may interest you.

CONTACT
Islay Brown: 09-921-9999 ext 6036, or click here
Dr Shirley Jülich: 09-921-9999 ext 5864 or click here