Northern Ireland Alternatives

Northern Ireland Alternatives is a centrally co-ordinating body for the development of restorative justice programmes at a grassroots level in working class protestant communities in Northern Ireland.

Alternatives was established in 1998 to help address issues of anti-social behaviour, paramilitary punishment attacks and the lack of trust between local communities and the formal criminal justice system and other statutory agencies. As a response to these issues, Alternatives developed a local model of practice based on the principles and practices of restorative justice that brought together all the key agencies in a powerful combination of expertise to help address the needs of victims, offenders and the local community.

Northern Ireland Alternatives now has 9 sites: Central Office (Northern Ireland Alternatives); Greater Shankill Alternatives; North Belfast Alternatives; East Belfast Alternatives; South Belfast Alternatives, Bangor Alternatives, Mid Ulster Alternatives, Larne Alternatives and a base in Portadown. All of these sites work to the same model of practice, which is overseen, and quality assured not only by the Central Office but also by the Criminal Justice Inspectorate.