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EU-project on best practices in restorative justice: recap kick-off conference in Kiel

Publication date: 26-4-2011

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Restorative Justice is high on the justice agenda of the European Union. However, in quite some European countries the potential of restorative justice in the criminal justice system is underestimated. Jo Tein, General Manager of the Association for Social Responsibility in Criminal Justice, Victim and Offender Treatment of the German state Schleswig-Holstein, is the promoter of the EU-funded project Improving Knowledge and Practice of Restorative Justice. "The aim of the project is to construct an overview of best practices in restorative justice in Europe, and such to enhance the development of further restorative justice practice. With our conference in Kiel in February we gave the kick-off for the project."

The project originated at the CEP conference Funding Innovation and Collaboration in Probation, held in Cambridge in 2009. "At this event the ins and outs of funding opportunities were discussed", remembers Jo Tein. "Both Geoff Emerson of Thames Valley Probation Trust and me saw possibilities start a project to focus on restorative justice, which could be largely financed by one of the funding programmes of the EU. Both the European Union as the Council of Europe have issued regulations on restorative justice which are applicable to all member states. The European dimension in restorative justice thus was easy to find."

Writing the project bid
"Compared to other grant applications, this bid for criminal justice funding programme (JPEN) was written relatively swiftly," says Jo Tein. "I had experience in writing applications for twinning projects, which are quite lengthy. Compared to that the JPEN application was surprisingly short! The partner organizations from Germany, the United Kingdom, Estonia and Hungary provided the practical background and research skills. We also invited CEP to join, which decided to take part in the conference as a an associate partner. Although ‘associate' means that your role in the project is more in the background, CEP did introduce Hungary as a project partner, and later involved the European Forum for Restorative Justice in the project too. That was a great help for us."

Dissemination of restorative justice practices
The project had is public kick-off with the conference Restorative Justice - A European and Schleswig-Holsteinian Perspective ( 9th-10th February in Kiel) and attracted many international guests. "The attendees were presented with a wide range of mediation methods, from juvenile- to adult, and from pre- to post sentence justice", informs Jo Tein. "I was happy that professionals from various parts of the criminal justice sector were present; not only practitioner and academics, but also judges, policy makers of the prison and probation sector and politicians. In Europe some countries are applying restorative justice actively, for example in Belgium, in some parts of England and Wales, or in Schleswig-Holstein. But in others there is a great lack of knowledge. I regularly speak with practitioners and policy makers in the prison and probation sector, and they are surprised by the possibilities with available restorative justice programs."

Judges know best
One of the problems seems to be that restorative justice procedures have not yet been incorporated into the European justice systems. Not only laws, but also the instruction of judges and prosecutors should include more restorative justice, according to Jo Tein. "Almost all judges think they know best and are unwilling to leave decisions to others, such as the victim and the offender. Their objective to punish hard is the opposite of restorative justice and this just not the way to go." Solutions such as better education or new laws were widely discussed at the conference. " The conference seems to be a good starting point for the conference. I think that crucial questions were raised, and this will hopefully make the project a success."

The conference in Kiel s one of a series held in the framework of the project. The next conference will be held in Tallinn, at 7th-8th September in 2011. The closing conference is still to be planed but it will take place in the United Kingdom in 2012.

To read and hear more about the project and the Kiel conference (audio file uploaded), visit the project website.

To read more about the Association for Social Responsibility in Criminal Justice, Victim and Offender Treatment of the German state Schleswig-Holstein (in German), visit: http://www.soziale-strafrechtspflege.de/