Dame Helen May Reeves DBE (born 22 August 1945) is a former Chief Executive of Victim Support in the UK. She retired in 2005 after 26 years with the organisation.
She has said that "[W]e believe an entirely new way of thinking about crime is needed – one that recognises the needs of victims of crime as the responsibility of the whole community, rather than leaving people to suffer in silence while we focus our attention on offenders." [1] She wrote the afterword to Victims of Crime: A New Deal? [2]
On 2 November 2004, she received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Southampton Institute, in recognition of her 'outstanding contribution' to victims' services. [3]
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was a court-like restorative justice body assembled in South Africa in 1996 after the end of apartheid. Authorised by Nelson Mandela and chaired by Desmond Tutu, the commission invited witnesses who were identified as victims of gross human rights violations to give statements about their experiences, and selected some for public hearings. Perpetrators of violence could also give testimony and request amnesty from both civil and criminal prosecution.
Helen Prejean is a Catholic religious sister and a leading American advocate for the abolition of the death penalty.
Restorative justice is an approach to justice that aims to repair the harm done to victims. In doing so, practitioners work to ensure that offenders take responsibility for their actions, to understand the harm they have caused, to give them an opportunity to redeem themselves, and to discourage them from causing further harm. For victims, the goal is to give them an active role in the process, and to reduce feelings of anxiety and powerlessness.
Dame Helen Mirren is an English actor. With a career spanning 60 years, she is the recipient of numerous accolades and is the only performer to have achieved both the American and the British Triple Crowns of Acting. Mirren has received an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II in The Queen, a Tony Award and a Laurence Olivier Award for portraying the same character in The Audience, as well as three British Academy Television Awards and four Primetime Emmy Awards for her role as DCI Jane Tennison in Prime Suspect.
Dame Silvia Rose Cartwright is a New Zealand jurist who served as the 18th Governor-General of New Zealand, from 2001 to 2006. She was the second woman to hold the office, after Dame Catherine Tizard.
Dame Vera Baird is a British barrister and politician who has held roles as a government minister, police and crime commissioner, and Victims' Commissioner for England and Wales.
Dana Charles Reeve was an American actress and singer. She was the wife of actor Christopher Reeve and mother of television reporter and anchor Will Reeve.
Victim Support is an independent charity in England and Wales that provides specialist practical and emotional support to victims and witnesses of crime.
Jeanine Ferris Pirro is an American television host and author, and is also a former judge, prosecutor, and politician in the state of New York.
Howard J. Zehr is an American criminologist. Zehr is considered to be a pioneer of the modern concept of restorative justice.
Dame Helen Frances Ghosh, is a former British civil servant who has been Master of Balliol College, Oxford since 2018. She was previously Director-General of the National Trust from November 2012 to April 2018.
Restorative practices is a social science field concerned with improving and repairing relationships and social connections among people. Whereas a zero tolerance social mediation system prioritizes punishment, RP privileges the repair of harm and dialogue among actors. In fact, the purpose of RP is to build healthy communities, increase social capital, decrease crime and antisocial behavior, mend harm and restore relationships. It ties together research in a variety of social science fields, including education, psychology, social work, criminology, sociology, organizational development and leadership. RP has been growing in popularity since the early 2000s and varying approaches exist.
Lawrence W. Sherman is an experimental criminologist and police educator who is the founder of evidence-based policing. Since 2022 he has served as Chief Scientific Officer of the Metropolitan Police at Scotland Yard, as well as Wolfson Professor of Criminology Emeritus at the University of Cambridge Institute of Criminology.
Crime in New Zealand encompasses criminal law, crime statistics, the nature and characteristics of crime, sentencing, punishment, and public perceptions of crime. New Zealand criminal law has its origins in English criminal law, which was codified into statute by the New Zealand parliament in 1893. Although New Zealand remains a common law jurisdiction, all criminal offences and their penalties are codified in New Zealand statutes.
Rachel Jane Reeves is a British politician who is Chancellor of the Exchequer since July 2024. A member of the Labour Party, she has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Leeds West and Pudsey, formerly Leeds West, since 2010.
Helen Grant is a British politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Maidstone and The Weald from 2010 until 2024 when the constituency was abolished, and subsequently Maidstone and Malling since July 2024. A member of the Conservative Party, she succeeded Ann Widdecombe, who was first elected in 1987.
Helen Margaret Newlove, Baroness Newlove is a British community reform campaigner who was appointed as Victims' Commissioner and served from 2013 to 2019. She was reappointed as the interim victims' commissioner on 16 October 2023 and has served as a deputy speaker in the House of Lords since 5 March 2018. Helen Newlove came to prominence after her husband, Garry Newlove, was murdered by three youths in 2007. After his death she set up a number of foundations that aimed to tackle the UK drinking culture as well as providing support to young people. Newlove was given a peerage in the 2010 Dissolution Honours list and sits in the House of Lords as a Conservative.
Louise Casey, Baroness Casey of Blackstock,, is a Crossbench peer and former British government official.
The office of the Victims' Commissioner for England and Wales is an organization of the government of the United Kingdom. The role of the Victims' Commissioner is to promote the interests of victims and witnesses of crime, encourage good practice in their treatment, and regularly review the Code of Practice for Victims which sets out the services victims can expect to receive.
The Three Strikes Legislation Repeal Act 2022 is an omnibus Act of Parliament passed by the New Zealand Parliament that repeals the elements of the Sentencing and Parole Reform Act 2010, which constitute the so-called three-strikes law. The bill passed its third reading on 9 August 2022 with the support of the governing Labour Party, the allied Green Party, the Māori Party but was opposed by the opposition National and ACT parties. The following year the Sixth National Government took power and has pledged to reinstate the three strikes law.