Criminal Justice 2008

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What is restorative justice?

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          With financial support from the Criminal Justice Programme of the European Commission, Directorate General Justice, Freedom and Security

The MEREPS Project's translating partner is the Afford Translations and Interpreting Ltd.

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Previous studies

2011. 10. 12

In August 2011, the streets of English cities were convulsed by a level of public disorder not seen in very many years.

Much of the subsequent debate has singled out the involvement of children and young people in the looting and violence, although in reality the age range and backgrounds of those convicted in the courts have been considerably more diverse than was initially suspected.

The debate has...

2010. 08. 01

The Huikahi Restorative Circle is a group process for reentry planning that involves the incarcerated individual, his or her family and friends, and at least one prison representative. The process was developed in 2005 in...

The process was originally called Restorative Circles, but was renamed Huikahi Restorative Circles to distinguish Hawaii’s reentry planning process from other restorative processes. In Hawaiian, hui means group, and kahi means individual. Together the word huikahi, for purposes of this process,...

2010. 07. 19

For years now, the Hungarian Probation Service has considered it one of its main tasks to use the methods of restorative justice more extensively in their work with offenders. These efforts were supported by the fact that the...

The possibilities of the prison probation services in using family group
conferencing

The Probation Service is working on the implementation of restorative justice principles in other types of cases also, and is trying to ensure that the various techniques and procedures...

2010. 07. 19

"Restorative Justice is a process whereby parties with a stake in a specific offence collectively resolve how to deal with the aftermath of the offence and its implications for the future." (Tony F. Marshall)

"Justice" in the traditional punitive sense, does not always fulfill a victim's view of what "justice" means. In the United Kingdom, the criminal justice system is based on retributive justice and this idea of working out the harm caused by the offender, and then sentencing...

2010. 07. 19

In Hungary, the paradigm of restoration is closely connected to the objective of crime prevention: the National Strategy for Community Crime Prevention (hereinafter strategy) in 2003 was the first government-levet paper that...

The paradigm of restoration, crime prevention and restorative prisons

The strategy's philosophy is that effective restorative procedures also have a preventive effect by nature. Restorative justice focuses on the offender, the victim and the community: they are the parties who can...

2010. 07. 19

Year 1 pilot project saw 23 offenders go through the scheme, 19 (83%) demonstrated a decrease in their likelihoodof re-offending. 199jobs were completed and 130 tonnes of waste cleared from the borough. Amicus customer...

When managing a prison with low security levels it is important to create a positive relationship with the local community whereby the prison is integrated with the community and vice versa. HMP Standford Hill is an open prison with 464 male prisoners who are serving sentences ranging from a few...

2010. 07. 19

The definition ofthe Council of Europe tries to establish a common ground, but on the other hand we can see a great diversity in approaches and legal regulations concerning mediation around Europe. Beside victim offender...

Mediation in prisons and restorative justice around Europe and beyond

There are two documents of particular intemational importance. One of them is a document of the United Nations entitled Basic principles on the use of restorative justice programmes in criminal matters (2002)...

2010. 07. 19

Mediation programmes are operated on several levels within the Belgian judicial system. Right now mediation is offered for young offenders in each judicial district of Belgium. In the 1990s criminal mediation projects were first...

Situation in Belgium
 
Mediation programmes are operated on several levels within the Belgian judicial system.
In the late 1980s a first pilot project was set up for juvenile delinquents. Right now mediation is offered for young offenders in each judicial district of...

2010. 07. 19

Belgian prisons can be divided into 3 types. Closed prisons have a permanent security regime which is clearly shown by, amongst others, constant camera-surveillance and high walls surrounding the prison. Half-open prisons are...

The Belgian prison system

For the moment, Belgium has around 10.348 inmates. 9.944 of them are men and 404 are women, for a total Belgian population of over 10 million and a half. These inmates are divided over 31 prisons. Some prisons only have very few inmates (the smallest...

2010. 07. 19

Due to lifestyle changes, new patterns of crime, a deterioration in the feeling of personal security and an increased fear of crime following the change of political regime, it has become necessary to reconsider the criminal law...

A broader concept of alternatives to prison includes not only the criminal law sanctions not resulting in the offenders imprisonment, but also the various forms of diversion, compensation and reparation. Reparative justice is closely connected to the new forms of alternatives to prison. In spite of...

2010. 06. 28

Research report looking at the use of restorative justice with hate crime offences.

Unfortunately, many people living in the UK have at some point in their lives had either personal or indirect experience of Hate Crime. A pointless and cruel crime that can not only leave victims with physical scarring but also psychological scarring which can devastate innocent people’s lives.

2010. 06. 21

Laura Mirsky reports on the latest developement of Vidia Negrea's work, a succesful attempt to use restorative practices in order to normalize the atmosphere in a Hungarian vocational school.

In April 2010 Vidia Negrea, director of Community Service Foundation (CSF) Hungary, provided an introductory training in facilitating restorative conferences for four different youth group homes in Budapest. This is just the latest development in her work spreading restorative practices in...

2010. 05. 17

Restorative justice theory and practice was a book published in 2007 by HEUNI and written by Dr. Gavrielides.

The book examines the gap between the theory of restorative justice (RJ) and its application in Europe, the U.S and elsewhere. Data were obtained from four international surveys of RJ practitioners, victims, offenders and policy makers using a combination of qualitative methodologies, including...

2010. 04. 22

This paper is based on a combination of participant-observation within high security prisons in England following my wrongful conviction and study since my release on appeal of research which might help to explain what I...

1. Victims and offenders - Victims and offenders normally come from the same community and often from the same family; they may themselves be both victims and offenders (Sanders and Young, 2007) but they are thrown into a ‘profound . . . uninvited, unhealthy, and deeply resented,...

2010. 04. 22

The process through which serious offenders come to terms with their offending is reflected in Psalm 51 composed 3,000 years ago and parallels the processes through which people come to terms with a variety of stressful events....

1 Changing the way we think about something - Most people are aware of Paul's conversion experience on the road to Damascus even if they are not familiar with the detail of Luke's account of it (Acts 9:1-9) as it has come to represent any sudden conversion from one way of thinking to...

2009. 11. 03

"What I would like to do is briefly review attempts that have been made to introduce restorative practices or programmes into the prison setting."

Most restorative programmes take place outside prison. There are several reasons for this. One is that it is far easier for offenders to make amends if they are not in prison. Another reason is that restorative justice is often community-based, which means that the programmes work with victims...

2009. 10. 29

Joanna Shapland writes about JRC, CONNECT and REMEDI, three restorative justice schemes in England and Wales.

Over the last 15 years or so, a number of initiatives involving restorative practices have taken place in prison settings, though there has not been any coherent national strategy. We need to distinguish between restorative justice, which for me embodies discussion between a victim and an offender...