Restorative justice is only possible in cases where someone is identified as the ‘offender’ and is caught. If no one is apprehended and the crime enters the records as ‘no result’, for those harmed, there is no formal acknowledgement, no chance to be ‘seen’, no opportunity for a ‘hearing’, no recognition of the harm they have suffered. They are invisible. Without the criminal justice system, without the police, investigations, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and the courts, there would be very little restorative justice.

Police investigation

If a crime is reported, witness statements are taken and an investigation is initiated. It can then take days or weeks before someone is apprehended and arrested. This can leave an awkward pause, when the person responsible may be wondering whether they have got away with it, and those harmed are waiting to find out if anyone will be arrested.

Sometimes, the person who caused the harm wishes to make amends, but doesn't know how, or fears that trying to could make things worse. Once they have been arrested, the criminal justice system may deliberately prohibit communication during the investigation. Both parties may be advised not to attempt contact with the other, or there may be bail conditions to keep people apart. Although put in place to protect those involved, these conditions can cause distress if they aren't clearly understood by everyone – and most people have no idea how the criminal justice system works. Some people harmed by crime say that in the hours and days following the incident, once they had been informed that someone was arrested, they started waiting for that person to come round to apologise. If the perpetrator is a young person, they can't understand why a parent hasn't marched him or her round immediately to say sorry.

In one case a girl was assaulted at her friend's party and someone who witnessed the attack called the police. When she learnt that a boy had been arrested, the girl's mother went round to his house to ask why he hadn't apologised. When the boy's father answered the door, she was too incensed to listen to what he was trying to explain – that his son's bail conditions forbade any communication, direct or indirect. It almost came to blows.