NL Provincial Courts
Michelle Park, Program & Policy Development Specialist | Valerie Corcoran, Drug Treatment Court Provincial Manager
Background
The Provincial Court of Newfoundland and Labrador is the Court of first instance for all criminal and regulatory offences occurring in the province. These include: Adult Criminal Court, Youth Court, Traffic Court, Small Claims Court (to $25,000), and in areas outside covered by the Family Divisioin of the Supreme Court--Family Law (other than divorce and division of property.) The Court also conducts inquiries into accidental or mysterious deaths or fires. While it does not explicitly employ restorative justice approaches, there are some principles and practices available in four areas: post-conviction, drug treatment court, mental health court, and intimate partner violence court.
Definition of Restorative Justice
The concepts of restoration and relationship embedded in restorative justice are implied throughout the work of the provincial courts. There is no official definition of restorative justice in this institution.
Demographic Served
Post conviction: all youth and adults involved in and convicted of crime.
Drug Treatment Court: Those adults age 18 and over, charged with drug addition motivated criminal offenses. Genearly high risk/high needs due to issues related to their problematic drug use.
Mental Health Court: Was established based on the recognition that certain offenders who suffer from a mental disorder may commit offenses as a consequence of their mental disorder or due to lifestyle issues related to their mental disorder such as inadequate or inappropriate housing, lack of employment, lack of support, noncompliance with medications and inappropriate self-medication with alcohol or drugs.
Intimate Partner Violence Intervention Court: includes offences committed by the accused arising from a relationship with a significant partner or ex-partner.
Services
The current Provincial Court services do not include specific restorative justice options. A few principles and practices are available when those responsible for providing services have had professional learning opportunities in this area that they personally take into their jobs.
Post conviction: there are some options available for those charged and convicted of having caused harm to address the impact of their actions in a restorative manner. These can include apologies and/or possibilities for restitution related to property loss
Drug treatment Court: The goal of Drug Treatment Court is to help people charged with drug addiction-motivated offenses. Designed to provide treatment and intervention to people with problematic drug use to help address the root causes of crime. Such relational approaches are grounded in restorative justice principles and are used to address the social needs and risks related to problematic drug use and criminal involvement. To restore community and repair harm, relational interaction and engagement are needed. This type of service is not offered in other courts/programs
Mental Health Courts (MHC): the Court is designed to provide an increased level of support, both medical and community-based, to accused persons appearing before it. MHC engages in restorative justice principles and practices as a way to bring healing and improve the overall well-being of all those involved and impacted. It allows for a relational way to approach individuals both within the court and outside of it. Formal restorative justice approaches are not employed
Intimate Partner Violence Intervention Court (IPVIC): IPVIC is a specialized criminal court, which in law operates in the same manner as traditional criminal justice courts, but is delivered in a way to better serve victims and hold offenders more accountable while requiring the offender to participate in intervention or programming regarding family violence. The goal of the Court is to prevent and reduce incidents of Intimate Partner violence by addressing the root causes of violence through teamwork with key community partners. Working together allows faster access to services for the victim and the offender. The Court focuses on improving victim safety and offender responsibility. Programming for offenders in this court is provided by Howard Society. Formal restorative justice approaches are not employed
Information provided
February 23, 2024