Restorative justice
Restorative justice offers a safe, respectful way for students to address harm and seek resolution through guided, values-led dialogue.
All Lincoln University tauira (students) are entitled to learn, study, work and participate in all aspects of university life in an environment of safety, inclusiveness, and respect.
- For guidelines and support contacts related to unacceptable behaviours, see: Behaviour and codes
- For information on how to raise concerns, see: Concerns and feedback
University Proctors are involved in all student disciplinary procedures and restorative justice is an option you can discuss with a Proctor at any stage if you are the victim of another student’s behaviours.
Restorative justice is a broad concept with no agreed definition, so Lincoln University adopts this definition used in Aotearoa by Manaaki Tāngata, Victim Support:
“Restorative justice is an informal, facilitated meeting between a victim and offender. It helps to give victims a voice and helps offenders to understand the consequences of their actions on other people. Sometimes the offender will agree to do something to help put right what has happened.”
Source: The Justice System — Manaaki Tāngata | Victim Support
Restorative justice at Lincoln University
At Lincoln University, restorative justice is guided by the values of Manaakitaka (respect and care) and whanaukataka (relationships and community). We aim to lift the mana of everyone involved.
We don’t follow a fixed process, because every situation is different. Instead, we use guiding principles that reflect our values and help create a safe, respectful space for everyone.
Guiding principles
- Throughout the restorative justice process, we want all participants to be kept safe and feel supported
- Where the wider LU whānau is affected, in the spirit of whanaukataka, we will inform and engage the community as appropriate and within a timely manner.
- Support staff will always be available to support tauira and whānau before and after any consultation throughout the process
- Victims and offenders are entitled to have their chosen support person with them during every part of the process
- The process followed, timing, location and people involved, must be agreed by both the victim and offender
- Personal needs of all parties will be considered and respected throughout the process e.g. language, disabilities, cultural and spiritual needs
- Each party can choose to opt out of the process at any time
- Manaaki comes first and the process will not be allowed to become inappropriately confrontational.
Opportunities
Restorative justice provides opportunities for victims to have their say and for offenders to take responsibility for their actions.
Victims have the opportunity to:
- Gain a greater understanding of what occurred
- Tell the offender how they have been affected
- Help the offender understand the harm they caused
- Give the offender an opportunity to take responsibility for their actions e.g. apologise
- Discuss how the harm could be put right by the offender
- Find closure
- Help prevent others from becoming a future victims or offenders.
Offenders have the opportunity to:
- Listen to the victim
- Understand the harm they have caused
- Take responsibility for their offending and apologise
- Take part in decisions on how the harm should be put right
- Learn and help prevent others from becoming future victims or offenders.
- Victim/s or offender asks for restorative justice
- Proctor considers restorative justice process in relation to the circumstance and disciplinary regulations
- Proctor discusses decision with Deputy Vice Chancellor Student Life and both assess need for wider Lincoln University community statement to be issued.
Proctor meets separately with the victim and offender to assess:
- If both are willing to take part
- That everyone will be and feel safe
- If there is likely to be a positive outcome
• Proctor, in collaboration with the Deputy Vice Chancellor Student Life, establishes if hui is to be facilitated by Proctor or another facilitator.
• Facilitator will ask the victim and offender if there are any cultural or identity preferences to be addressed for during the hui e.g. location, karakia, disability needs, language support.
- Hui occurs with the facilitator, victim, offender and support people e.g. whānau, support staff, interpreters.
- An open and honest discussion occurs about what happened and what harm was caused.
- The victim and offender agree a plan of actions to help put things right.
- Facilitator reports a description of the hui to the Proctor, including any agreements and timeframes.
- Proctor maintains a record of agreed process and ensures actions completed.
- Proctor issues general statement to University staff and students on how the matter was resolved.
- University support advisors follow up individually with all students involved.
Support, contacts, and further guidance
If restorative justice is a process you would like to consider or to find out more about restorative justice at Lincoln University, you can talk to:
- Proctors: proctors@lincoln.ac.nz
- Privacy Officer: privacy@lincoln.ac.nz
- Student Experience Manager: experience@lincoln.ac.nz
Āwhina Ākoka, Student Support
Manaakitaka is an important value to Lincoln University and we have a duty of care to all students. We encourage both victims and offenders to seek support from friends, whānau, community, student bodies, or University support advisors.
Student bodies
- Te Awhioraki Māori Students’ Association Tumuaki, TeAwhioraki@lincolnuni.ac.nz
- LU Students’ Association (LUSA) President, president@lusa.org.nz
- LUSA Advocacy and Voice, students@lusa.org.nz
University support advisors
- Te Manutaki, Māori and Pasifika support: ompd@lincoln.ac.nz
- Counselling and Wellbeing Advisors: healthsupport@lincoln.ac.nz
- Inclusive Education: inclusive@lincoln.ac.nz
- International Student Advisors: internationaladvisors@lincoln.ac.nz
- Chaplains: chaplains@lincoln.ac.nz
- Wheako Tauira, Student Experience: experience@lincoln.ac.nz
Community support
Victim Support
Website: victimsupport.org.nz
Freephone: 0800 842 846
Citizens Advice Bureau
Website: www.cab.org.nz
Freephone: 0800 367 222
Need to Talk?
Website: 1737.org.nz
Free call or text 1737 anytime
A detailed explanation of the general principles the Proctor follows for restorative justice at Lincoln University can be found below. The Proctor aligns their actions with the Student Disciplinary Regulations:
Student Disciplinary Regulations [PDF 284 KB]
Clauses 7.3 and 8.1 of the Lincoln University Student Discipline Regulations refer to restorative justice as an option for the resolution of disciplinary matters. This reflects the general statement in 7.1 that ‘At all steps of the disciplinary process, informal resolution is available providing it is with the agreement of all parties involved.’
The Proctor will follow these general principles in assessing and managing restorative justice procedures:
- The Proctor will aim to reach an outcome that a victim/s of an offence feel comfortable with and, if appropriate, will discuss whether restorative justice may work to achieve that result.
- Taking a restorative justice approach must be in agreement of all parties to an offence. If one party is not agreeable, then other means of disciplinary resolution must be used in alignment with the Disciplinary Regulations.
- All parties to a restorative justice hui are entitled to attend with support people of their choosing. The facilitator will determine, with the agreement of all parties, the extent to which those people have speaking rights.
- In addition to chosen support people, the University will arrange counselling and wellbeing supports to be available to provide support to the victim and offender before and after the hui.
- The hui facilitator must, as far as possible, be independent of the parties to an offence and agreed upon by all parties. This facilitator may be internal or external to the University.
- All parties must agree to be bound by confidentiality with the exception that the Proctor may issue a general statement to the University detailing how a matter was resolved – as per 8.8 of the Student Discipline Regulations.
- If a general statement regarding the resolution is to be issued by the Proctor, all parties and their supports will be provided the opportunity to review that statement before it is released.
- In instances where the issue is of wider University interest, the Proctor may issue a general statement, outside of the direct parties and their supports, informing the matter is under investigation, within a reasonable timeframe of the offence occurring.
- In relation to manaakitaka, the University has a duty of care to all students, at all times throughout the process – whether victims or offenders. To that end, it will not allow a restorative justice hui to become inappropriately confrontational. If this does occur, the facilitator will cancel the hui and determine other means of disciplinary sanctions.
- If the facilitator or the Proctor is not convinced that an offender has properly engaged with the restorative justice process, or they do not complete any element of the resolution agreed upon, the Proctor reserves the right to impose other disciplinary sanctions in alignment with the Student Disciplinary Regulations.
- For matters where an individual has caused offence to a wider group within the University, the Proctor will first liaise with Te Awhioraki, LUSA and University support advisors to determine whether there is an appropriately representative group who wants to participate in restorative justice on behalf of the wider group. If such representation cannot be agreed upon, then the University is obliged to pursue other disciplinary options.
- For matters when an individual is a repeat offender, the Proctor will follow the process as outlined above to determine whether restorative justice may be an appropriate resolution to the specific situation. However, the Proctor reserves the right to impose other disciplinary sanctions in alignment with the Student Disciplinary Regulations.
Definitions
Community support
Free professional services offered to advise and support anyone in the community.
DVC Student Life
Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Student Life responsible to the Vice-Chancellor for a portfolio of responsibilities relating to student services, experience and achievement.
Facilitator
Responsible for guiding all participants through the Restorative Justice process, aiming to provide a process that is safe, flexible and responsive to the needs of participants.
Hui
To gather, congregate, assemble, meet.
Manaakitaka
Hospitality, kindness, generosity, support – the process of showing respect, generosity and care for others.
Offender/s
A person or persons whose behaviour has caused harm to other members of the Lincoln University community.
Privacy Officer
Employed by the University to encourage compliance with information privacy principles set out in the Privacy Act, deal with requests under the Privacy Act and, in the case of any complaints or investigations, works alongside the Privacy Commissioner.
Proctor
Primary role responsible to the Vice-Chancellor for all complaints relating to student behaviour and student breaches of academic integrity, including complaints against students by staff and disputes between students.
Restorative Justice
An informal, facilitated meeting between a victim and offender. It helps to give victims a voice and helps offenders to understand the consequences of their actions on other people. Sometimes the offender will agree to do something to help put right what has happened.
SafeLU
The University’s health and safety app which pushes alerts in campus emergencies and provides quick access to security and support contacts. Download from Apple or Google app stores.
Student Experience Manager
Employed by Lincoln University to manage student communications, voice and partnership programmes and advocate for improved student experiences.
Support person
Trusted friends, whānau, family, a community or faith leader, a social or support worker.
Tauira
Lincoln University student or group of students.
University support advisors
Experienced professionals employed by Lincoln University who support and engage with students in the University context.
University counsellor
Trained mental health professionals from University Student Health, Counselling and Wellbeing.
Victim/s
A person or persons harmed by the behaviour of another person within the Lincoln University whānau.
Whānau
Family group, extended family, friends, close community network of people.
Whanaukataka
A relationship through shared experiences and working together which provides people with a sense of belonging.
