A/HRC/25/47 restorative justice practices to prevent and respond to bullying and violence in the playground and address serious offences within the school, including rape. 101. Models of restorative justice in school may involve teaching conflict resolution, promoting peace studies, training student mediators to resolve conflicts among their peers and, in some cases, bringing parents and teachers together to play a supportive role in the mediation process. Peer mediation is used to help students to address issues at the root of their disputes and build their resolution skills. 102. Research also confirms the positive results achieved with restorative justice processes in residential care settings. They help to lower incidents of violence against children, to prevent the use of violence by children and to promote positive behaviour by staff and young people, while contributing to the prevention of the criminalization of children.36 3. The benefits of restorative justice for the parties involved 103. Research consistently confirms that results for restorative processes are overwhelmingly positive in terms of satisfying the need for fairness and justice among all parties involved. Most importantly, these processes promote a greater involvement of the victim, and victims systematically indicate that their views are better respected in restorative justice processes than in court.37 104. Victims are also more likely to receive an apology from the offender if they follow a restorative process rather than a court-based procedure. Evaluations also indicate that victims identify symbolic restitutions as more important than material restitution. 4. The benefits of restorative justice for society 105. The Study found that institutionalization creates an unnecessary financial drain on budgets and that institutionalization in a closed environment can be as much as 12 times the per capita cost of community-based care options.38 106. There are high personal costs incurred by children who become involved with the justice system, and the costs to society are also high, including the cost of judicial proceedings and of keeping children in detention facilities. 107. Restorative justice helps reduce costs associated with offending and reoffending.39 More importantly, children who complete community-based restorative justice programmes are more likely to return to school and increase their chances of becoming productive members of society. 36 37 38 39 20 See Natasha Willmott, “A review of the use of restorative justice in children’s residential care” (National Children’s Bureau, London, 2007). For example, in Queensland, Australia, an analysis of data collected by the Department of Justice showed that, of 351 offenders, parents and victims interviewed, 98 per cent said the restorative process was fair, and 97 to 99 per cent said they were satisfied with the agreement reached in the conference. A study conducted in Western Australia found similar results regarding perceptions of fairness and justice among offenders, victims, and families. See Kathleen Daly and Hennessey Hayes, “Restorative justice and conferencing in Australia”, Trends & Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice, No. 186 (February 2001), p. 4. World Report on Violence against Children (United Nations, 2006), p. 206. See Estudio y análisis sobre costo/beneficio económico y social de los modelos de justicia juvenil en el Perú (Terre des hommes). Available from www.justiciajuvenilrestaurativa.org/documentos/informe.pdf.