Napier City Libraries has launched an expanded online collection of the writings of retired District Court Judge Fred McElrea on restorative justice.

The Judge McElrea Restorative Justice Collection online site has been launched with over 65 articles, book chapters, select committee submissions, interviews and speech notes  by Mr McElrea.

The stated purpose of the collection is to gather all his work in one place and make it as accessible, prominent, organised and reader and researcher-friendly as possible. The papers have been made available for non-commercial use only and may be downloaded in PDF format.

Fred McElrea graduated LLM and MA with first class honours in Philosophy from Otago University and also obtained an LLM from London and a DipCrim from Cambridge University. After practising in civil litigation for 18 years in Auckland he was appointed to the District Court in 1988 until his retirement in 2013. He was also a Judge of the Youth Court (1990 to 2001) and an Alternate Judge of the Environment Court (2001 to 2013).

Over his career he has been a prominent advocate of New Zealand’s youth justice system and also of restorative justice more broadly, in New Zealand and internationally.

"Judge McElrea has been more than a mere proponent of restorative justice; he has been a leading pioneer and critic, seeking to help the field live up to its promises and potential," Professor Howard Zehr of the Eastern Mennonite University and Zehr Institute for Restorative Justice says in a foreword to the collection.

"He was an early advocate for involving the community more broadly than initial restorative justice practices in North America had done. As a lawyer and judge, he has imagined important ways that restorative justice can be applied within the legal system while encouraging a healthier balance of system and community roles.

"Fred, as he is known in the restorative justice community, is an innovative thinker whose talks and papers are articulate and thoughtfully prepared. What a gift it is to have them collected in one place, accessible to researchers and practitioners, and easily searched through the excellent 'reader/researcher aids' on the website."