Our impact
Concrete effects for individuals and communities
By creating spaces for encounter, dialogue, and recognition, we contribute to transformations that affect individuals, relationships, and the social fabric, from both an individual and a collective perspective.
The three levels of impact
Effects that unfold at multiple levels
Our actions are part of a clear logical framework. By creating spaces for encounter, dialogue, and recognition, they generate complementary effects that manifest at different levels of human and social life.
Individual effect
Fostering appeasement, accountability, and engagement
Individuals can put words to their experiences, be listened to, and be recognized in what they have gone through. They can release destructive emotional burdens and ask questions. Accountability for violence is clarified. Our services allow for a reclamation of power, better self-confidence, and enhanced personal resilience.
Interpersonal effect
Fostering the repair of broken social bonds
Our processes enable a better understanding of the other person. Spaces for exchange within a secure framework, in dyads or groups, foster empathy among participants, which helps reduce prejudice by positively changing one's perception of oneself and others. Our services allow individuals to connect with a shared humanity and dignity, and to break out of social isolation.
Collective effect
Fostering social dialogue in the spirit of restorative justice
Our processes have a collective impact: participants integrate restorative justice principles into their lives, breaking social taboos, prejudices, and silence. Individual empowerment allows participants to get involved socially, for example by changing practices in their environments.
By supporting dialogue, accountability, and community participation, our actions contribute to creating human, respectful, non-violent relationships founded on dialogue.
Key Figures and Benchmarks
Our Actions in 2025
For 25 years, our actions have helped repair broken bonds, bring peace to individuals, and transform relationships at the heart of communities.
Partner organizations collaborating on a daily basis
Awareness-raising activities
People welcomed for intake interviews
Volunteers
People participated in restorative justice encounters and workshops
People reached through restorative justice awareness initiatives
Testimonies
Frequented Asked Questions
How do you measure your impact?
Evaluating our practices is very important for Passerelles de justice réparatrice, not only to document the impact of our services but also to ensure the continuous improvement of our practices. By combining qualitative and quantitative markers, we pay attention to the transformations experienced at individual and interpersonal levels, as well as broader effects on communities.
We measure our impact using a logical framework and a theory of change that link our actions to the observed effects. By combining qualitative and quantitative markers, we therefore pay attention to the transformations experienced by individuals, the evolution of relationships, and the broader effects on communities. This is done through testimonies, evaluation questionnaires, process reviews, and annual reports that allow us to track these effects over time. For many of our processes, we offer a follow-up meeting several months after participation to discuss the impacts of the process with participants.
Passerelles de justice réparatrice also periodically collaborates with external university researchers. Any opportunity for scientific evaluation is an added value for the organization.
What types of changes do you observe concretely?
Passerelles de justice réparatrice has been offering restorative justice encounters for over 25 years, and year after year, we consistently observe the benefits and significant impacts of this process.
Based on evaluations collected from our participants as well as scientific studies on our processes (notably the research report by Jo-Anne Wemmers and Isabelle Parent on the experiences of sexual violence victims in restorative justice programs, in which we participated), we have identified three levels of impact for our restorative justice processes: individual, interpersonal, and collective.
Following a process, participants often report experiencing personal changes: increased confidence, decreased fear, release of destructive burdens, etc. Generally speaking, in the individual sphere, participants are more appeased, accountable, and engaged. At the interpersonal level, we observe that living a constructive and trusting group experience helps build trust in interpersonal relationships and reduces social isolation. Processes experienced in group settings can also allow participants to connect with a shared humanity and dignity, which can have a positive impact on the perception of others and oneself. Finally, on a collective level, since a society is made up of individuals, if multiple individuals are more appeased, society is as well.
How do the effects manifest in the long term?
For restorative justice processes, participants often speak of a "before" and an "after" because the various forms of appeasement that emerge open up many possibilities afterward: for some people, this may mean social involvement, the beginning of new processes, or life changes.
Some individuals continue to stay involved with Passerelles de justice réparatrice by sharing their journeys and processes. We thus witness, many years after their restorative justice process, that their transformation is lasting.
How does your impact go beyond the individuals directly accompanied?
At Passerelles de justice réparatrice, we consider that the consequences of crime extend far beyond the lives of the victim and the offender alone.
A participating individual can impact about a dozen others following their process. Participants regularly share remarks from their entourage who notice their transformations. The same holds true in penitentiaries, where participating individuals—through word of mouth after seeing other inmates become less violent and more peaceful—inspire others.
Furthermore, in restorative justice encounters and workshops, a community member participates and often emerges just as transformed. The lived process can have repercussions on their life, their perception of themselves and others, their understanding of violence, and their future civic engagement.
In addition, several participants wish to testify about their repair process and journey. They do so in various contexts: university classes, sexual delinquency intervention groups, or penitentiaries. These stories impact others by breaking taboos and silence, raising awareness about the impacts of crime, and demonstrating that one can rebuild after violence and honor their dignity.
Contributing to lasting and meaningful effects
By supporting our work, you concretely contribute to the continuation of processes that transform lives, relationships, and communities.
Become a Member
Becoming a member means affirming your support for the mission of Passerelles de justice réparatrice, taking part in the organization’s democratic life, and sustaining its long-term development.
Make a Donation
Making a donation means providing tangible support to processes of reparation, dialogue, and transformation experienced by individuals and communities.