A Victim-Led Criminal Justice System

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    INDEPENDENT ACADEMIC RESEARCH STUDIES

    A VICTIM-LED CRIMINAL

    JUSTICE SYSTEM:ADDRESSING THE PARADOXEdited by Theo Gavrielides

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    Independent Academic Research Studies (IARS)IARS PUBLICATIONS

    14 Dock Ofces Surrey Quays Road, London SE16 2XU, United Kingdom+44(0) 20 7064 4380 [email protected] www.iars.org.uk

    IARS is a leading, international think-tank with a charitable mission to give everyone a chance to forgea safer, fairer and more inclusive society. IARS achieves its mission by producing evidence-based solutions

    to current social problems, sharing best practice and by supporting young people and the community toshape decision making. IARS is an international expert in user-led research, justice, equalities and

    youth related issues.IARS vision is a society where everyone is given a choice to actively participate in social problem solving.The organisation is known for its robust, independent evidence-based approach to solving current social

    problems, and is considered to be a pioneer in user-involvement and the application of user-ledresearch methods

    Published in the UK by IARS Publications 2014 IARS

    The moral rights of the editor have been assertedDatabase right IARS Publications (maker)

    First published November 2014

    All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system ortransmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of IARS Publications,

    or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rightsorganisation. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside of the scope of the above should be sent to

    IARS at the address above.You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must impose

    the same condition on any acquirer.

    British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

    Layout: dennis@kavitagraphics

    ISBN 978-1-907641-27-5

    The book can be purchased fromhttp://www.iars.org.uk/content/IARSpublications

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    A Victim-led Criminal Justice System: Addressing the Paradox

    The Restorative Justice in Europe Programme is co-financed by the European Commission(EC Grant Agreement JUST/2011-2012/JPEN/AG/2951)

    Funded by the Criminal JusticeProgramme of the European Union

    Restorative Justice Nederland (RJN) is a center of expertise and innovation in the eldof restorative justice. Our aim is to encourage a participatory society of active citizenswho are involved as much as possible in the handling of their own conicts and therestoration of the consequences for victims, offenders and the community. As agrassroots charity we bring together policy makers, scientists, practitioners fromdifferent societal sectors and other stakeholders in order to stimulate where possiblethe application of restorative justice and restorative practices.

    The European Public Law Organisation (EPLO) is an international inter-governmentalorganization headquartered in Athens, Greece, whose specic mandate is the creationand dissemination of knowledge in the area of public law and the promotion ofEuropean values through public law throughout the world. The Organizations Board

    of Directors comprises its 13 Member States, the European Commission, the Council ofEurope and 63 Universities and institutions from 33 countries. Professor VassoArtinopoulou is Head of the Crime and Criminal Justice Unit, since 2011.

    The Institute for Police and Security Research (IPoS) at the University of AppliedSciences and Administration has been researching for many years in the eld ofRestorative Justice. It has also been a partner in the project Mediation and RestorativeJustice in Prison Settings (MEREPS) and is supervising the national-wide Victim-offender-mediation statistics in Germany. IPoS is an interdisciplinary oriented institutewhich has conducted and still conducts numerous studies in the research areas legalpsychology, law, criminalistics and criminology.

    The Institute of Conict Resolution is an association of lawyers, researchers anduniversity professors. It follows a number of objectives, including: exploration ofcreative conict resolution methods, based on the culture of dialogue; practice ofmediation, negotiation and other peaceful methods for dispute resolution, focusing onrestorative justice; preventing violence, youth offending and other antisocial behaviour;protection of rights of crime victims; strengthening civil society and Europeanintegration.

    Project Partners - Restorative Justice in Europe: Safeguarding Victims & Empowering Professionals

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    IARS Publications Restorative Justice Series

    IARS Publications Restorative Justice Series

    E-book: Restorative Justice in the United KingdomB. Lyon, A. Matczak and T. Gavrielides (2012)London: IARS Publications. ISBN: 978-1-907641-14-5. Price: 4, 99

    A Victim-led Criminal Justice System: Addressing the ParadoxT. Gavrielides (Ed.) (2014)London: IARS Publications. ISBN: 978-1-907641-27-5. Price: 9, 99

    The European Union has recently entered into a process of legislative and policy reformswith the aim of strengthening the rights of victims in criminal proceedings. By November2015, all EU member states will need to have demonstrated that they have modied theirdomestic laws to give effect to the Directive 2012/29/EU Establishing minimum standardson the rights, support and protection of victims of crime (Victims Directive). For the rsttime, restorative justice is explicitly regulated at the EU legal level, as the Victims Directiveaims to establish a baseline for its safe implementation across member states.

    This ground-breaking and timely edited collection aims to contribute to this internationaldebate. The book aims to challenge current thinking while highlighting good practices thatrespect and safeguard victims in the criminal justice and restorative justice processes.The book uses a combination of theoretical and empirical analysis while utilising originalresearch data collected by the EU funded Restorative Justice in Europe (RJE) project. Thebook is partly funded by the European Commission (EC Grant Agreement JUST/2011-2012/JPEN/AG/2951) through the Restorative Justice in Europe project.

    The e-book explores and discusses the current provisions, legislation and practice ofrestorative justice in the United Kingdom.

    Comparisons between England, Northern Ireland and Scotland are drawn, and contrastsbetween youth and adult practice are highlighted.

    The struggles with the traditional criminal justice system and restorative practices place init are also considered.

    E-book: Restorative Justice and Domestic Violence: A Critical ReviewG. Loseby A. Ntziadima and T. Gavrielides (2014)London: IARS Publications. ISBN: 978-1-907641-28-2. Price: 4, 99

    This e-book reports on the current developments, practices and policies on the use ofrestorative justice in cases of domestic violence in the UK and it aims to stimulate an openand honest discussion about using restorative justice in such cases. The research alsoreects on limitations, inefciencies and complexities of the current criminal justice systemin the UK.

    The Restorative Justice and Domestic Violence: A critical Review forms the rst stage ofthe research that was conducted in the framework of the 2 year EU funded projectRestorative Justice in cases of domestic violence: Best practice examples betweenincreasing mutual understanding and awareness of specic protection needs, aprogramme that aims to generate and pilot new knowledge on practices of restorative justice and domestic violence and to identify criteria for offering restorative approaches to

    such cases, in accordance with the Victims Directive.

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    A Victim-led Criminal Justice System: Addressing the Paradox

    IARS Publications Restorative Justice Series

    Restorative Justice and the Secure Estate:Alternatives for Young People in CustodyT. Gavrielides (2011)London: IARS Publications. ISBN: 978-1-907641-08-4. Price: 9, 99

    Waves of Healing: Using Restorative Justice with Street Group ViolenceT. Gavrielides (2012)London: IARS Publications. ISBN: 978-1907641-10-7. Price: 9, 99

    Despite the impressive literature on restorative justice, the potential of its paradigm withstreet group violence remain largely unexplored.

    The nancial, political and social implications that recent riots are having on governmentsacross the world spark a new debate on the appropriateness of restorative approaches inrelieving the overstretched and costly criminal justice system.

    The book uses the case study method to investigate examples in India, Greece, Canada andEngland, where restorative justice is considered within the context of street group violence.Key issues are identied and recommendations are posited, as new policies, practices andresearch are being proposed in this grey area of restorative justice.

    This book focuses on the use of restorative justice with young people in custody in the UK,and aims to achieve three objectives. Firstly, to provide and up-to-date descriptive accountof restorative practices within the secure estate.

    This account looks at issues of classication, denition and understanding. Secondly, toprevent a critical overview of existing restorative practices with the objective of establishingthe extent to which they inuence the regimes and programmes of the secure estate.

    Based on qualitative data from young people, practitioners, policy makers, victims,offenders and academics, the book posits evidence-based recommendations for policy andstrategy analysts, researchers and practitioners at a critical point in time for the restorative

    justice movement.

    Rights and Restoration Within Youth JusticeT. Gavrielides (Ed.) (2012)Witby: de Sitter Publications. ISBN: 978-1-897160-62-6. Price: 37.00

    Rights & Restoration within Youth Justice unites the principles and practices of humanrights and restorative justice. Leading international experts challenge current thinking onevidence-based youth justice policy.

    Through international case studies, a framework emerges for connecting human rights andrestorative justice approaches to criminal justice policy and practice.

    This book is written by leading scholars in the eld of restorative justice, human rights,youth justice and policy and criminal justice. The project was carried out under the auspicesof IARS and the book was published by de Sitter Publications.

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    IARS Publications Restorative Justice Series

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    A Victim-led Criminal Justice System: Addressing the Paradox

    Editors Note & AcknowledgementsTheo Gavrielides

    ForewordOlivier Tell

    PART I: A NEW NARRATIVE FOR VICTIM POLICY

    1: Why Victims Voices matter in Criminal Justice Policy and ReformGabrielle Browne

    2: The Fluidity of VictimhoodElaine Shpungin

    3: Restorative Justice and Sexual Violence:Overcoming the Concerns of Victim-SurvivorsShirley Jlich and Fiona Landon

    4: Achieving Balance: Towards Rights-centred Justice Anne Hayden

    PART II: SAFEGUARDING VICTIMS & EMPOWERING PROFESSIONALS:FIVE COUNTRY CASE STUDIES

    5: The Victims Directive and the project Restorative Justice in Europe:Safeguarding Victims and Empowering Professionals: An overviewTheo Gavrielides

    6: From the Margins to the Centre: A Victim-focused CriminalJustice System for the United Kingdom

    Grace Loseby7: The Victims Directive and Restorative Justice in Germany

    Arthur Hartmann and Marie Haas8: Empowering Restorative Justice in Greece: One Step Forward for Victims

    Vasso Artinopoulou and Iro Michael9: Safeguarding Victims and Empowering Professionals in The Netherlands:

    State of the Art and Vision for the Future Anneke van Hoek and Gert Jan Slump

    10: More Justice for Crime Victims in BulgariaDobrinka Chankova

    11: Repositioning the Victim: Comparing and LearningTheo Gavrielides

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    Table of Contents

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    Chapter Title

    PART III:CASE STUDIES & BEST PRACTICES

    PART IV: EMPOWERING VICTIMS AND PROFESSIONALS: THE TOOLS

    A Victims Guide to Restorative JusticeVictim and Offender Prole Assessment Tools

    Appendices

    Appendix A: About IARSAppendix B: About IARS PublicationsAppendix C: IARS Restorative Justice Training Programmes

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    245

    247252

    265

    265268270

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    It is a great privilege to edit this book at a critical point in the development of new criminal justicepolicies internationally. These reforms will arguably see the victim moved from the margins to thecentre of state attention. This is particularly true for Europe.We tend to forget that the criminal justice system is a modern construct. In fact, much of what we

    understand today as crime was seen by early communities as a conict between individuals, while theterms offender and victim were coined as a result of our modern, legal positivistic framework.Despite my legal background, the term victim makes me feel uncomfortable as it fails to acknowledgethat in the harsh and complex reality of crime, the lines between labels are often blurred. However, forthe purposes of this book and a constructive debate that will hopefully help us move the forgottenstakeholders out of the shadows, I accept the term.

    According to historians, the victim was gradually pushed to the margins as the interests and powerof the state overtook those of the individual. This created a paradox that has endured for centuries.Moving victims out of the shadows cannot be an easy task, as the same power structures that put themthere remain strong even in our modern societies.

    It took humanity two World Wars and many civil conicts to come to the table to agree to minimumstandards of behaviour for states. These were intended to control this state-led attitude including thatimpacting on criminal justice. We called them human rights and recorded them in international

    documents such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the European Conventionon Human Rights. I have always argued that the criminal process and the administration of criminal justice by state agents is the eld of battle in which human rights are tested. Therefore, over manyyears, questions were being raised by communities, the victims movement and other civil societyorganisations about states behaviour and compliance with the human rights of victims in the criminalprocess.

    In Europe, its Union had no other choice but to respond to this questioning. In the hope of achievingconsistency in victims rights protection across the EU, in 2001, the Commission passed a FrameworkDecision, but this did not go far and deep enough. As a result, we now have a Victims Directive which

    must be translated into domestic laws and policies by November 2015. It is hoped that this will providea baseline for minimum guarantees for victims.

    Since passing the Directive, the EC invested resources in order to prepare member States for itsimplementation. After a competitive process, IARS project Restorative Justice in Europe: SafeguardingVictims and Empowering Professionals (RJE) was successful in receiving an EU grant and I had thehonour of coordinating its scientic and practical ambitions and outputs. Over twenty-four months,IARS worked closely with its four European partners Restorative Justice Nederland (Netherlands), theInstitute of Conict Resolution (Bulgaria), European Public Law Organization (Greece), and University ofApplied Sciences (Germany). We were also supported by 12 Associate Partners who are experts in thearea of victims and restorative justice: the University of Cyprus (Cyprus), Restorative Thinking (UK), theRegister of Restorative Practitioners (UK), Restorative Justice International (USA), the ForgivenessProject (UK), HM Prison Altcourse (UK), the European Forum for Restorative Justice (Belgium), the

    Editors Note & AcknowledgementsTheo Gavrielides

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    Centre for Restorative Justice at Simon Fraser University (Canada), Prof. Gerry Johnstone (UK),Foresee (Hungary), Ulster University (Northern Ireland) and Victim Support (UK).

    We were adamant that our results were produced not just in English, but in all participating countrylanguages i.e. Greek, German, Dutch and Bulgarian. The victims and restorative justice literature is stillvery thin when it comes to non-English sources and thus we hoped to make material accessible bygoing the extra mile by making them accessible to local people.

    After a thorough review of the extant literature and existing best practice, we produced over 20reports sharing this information for free across Europe. Following this, we carried out eldwork withover 272 victims and offenders and 280 professionals working with victims either by providing victimsupport, restorative justice or criminal justice services.

    This gave us the evidence base to construct training material, manuals, best practice guidance andprotocols. In total, 27 face-to-face pilots were carried out in the ve participating countries reaching1,131 individuals and 383 organisations. We also used this material to produce an online course forvictims, which was downloaded 200 times. A separate e-course was also created for professionals. Atthe time of writing, this was downloaded 50 times and like the face-to-face course it received CPDaccreditation (Continuing Professional Development). At the same time, we organised conferences andseminars and made various presentations at national and international conferences while meeting withour national and local decision makers.

    The structure of this book was carefully considered bearing two objectives in mind. First, I wantedto explore and propose a new narrative for victim policy. To achieve this, I combined evidence frominternational guest papers (Part I) and the ndings of the RJE project (Part II and III). Most of the guestarticles are written by victims who had the courage to share their personal experiences. My experience

    and the evidence that we have gathered suggest that contrary to what many criminal justiceprofessionals believe, victims do want to talk and be included in the formation of practices and policiesthat impact on them. I have always said that a true democracy is one that not only offers its citizens theopportunity to participate, but also supports them in doing so. As we become more honest about ourintentions and available resources for criminal justice reforms, we must become more accountablewhenever we choose not to include victims directly in policy making. Therefore, an obligation is createdfor national and European governments to respond to this call. Second, I wanted to offer a comparativeand critical perspective of current evidence and emerging themes that will facilitate theimplementation of this new narrative for victim policy including the Victims Directive.

    I hope that the knowledge that we produced through the programme and this book, as well as thetools that we made available will be used by professionals, decision makers and policy makers in theirefforts for a better criminal justice system. Having set up IARS, a user-led international institute thataims to change policy and practice from the bottom up, it will not be suprising to read that my biggesthope is that individuals/ users are empowered through our work and the training that we produced toseek their rights under the new law. The victims and offenders whom we spoke feel that the existinggatekeepers, entrenched practices and mind-sets are the true barriers in the implementation of ourproposed narrative for victim policy including the Victims Directive. The practitioners and other expertswho took part in our research also conrm this conclusion. While we foster an attitudinal change and acultural shift within our criminal justice systems, we must allow the human rights values of Freedom,Respect, Equality and Dignity to guide us through our policy, institutional and legislative reforms.

    I am proud to safely claim that the RJE project and this book went way beyond what we had

    Note & Acknowledgements

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    The European Commission has made the protection and support of victims of crime a priority andis taking steps to ensure that their needs are met. Therefore, it is a great pleasure to write thisForeword for Theo Gavrielides new book A victim-led Criminal Justice System: Addressing the

    paradox.As the title of the book suggests, we have been living a paradox in our modern criminal justice

    systems. Although justice and criminal justice are primarily meant to restore the power imbalance andhurt that are caused by crime, victims continue to be disempowered. At the European Union (EU) level,therefore, we have taken recent legislative action to rectify this paradox by creating a baseline ofminimum safeguards and guarantees for victims across Europe.

    The package of measures presented by the European Commission in May 2011 and in particularthe Directive 2012/029/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing minimumstandards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime (the Victims Directive) willensure that victims are treated appropriately and without discrimination. Our aim is to ensure thatvictims get access to justice though a range of rights that will allow them to actively participate incriminal proceedings, to access support and assistance services, to be protected from secondary andrepeat victimisation, to be informed throughout the course of proceedings and to seek compensationand restoration. Meeting the needs of victims plays an important role in assuring victims rights and

    achieving a high quality of justice in the European Union. It is crucial to acknowledge victims, to taketheir suffering seriously and to help them get on with their lives.

    Once the transposition date of the Victims Directive on 16 November 2015 has passed, EU MemberStates must implement at least the Directives minimum standards. In our attempt to prepare MemberStates appropriately for the implementation of the Directive, we made funding available through acompetitive and open process. One of the projects that we co-nanced was the Restorative Justice inEurope: Safeguarding Victims & Empowering Professionals (RJE). This was run by the UK basedinternational NGO Independent Academic Research Studies (IARS) in partnership with four otherpartners in Germany, the Netherlands, Greece and Bulgaria.

    The appropriate treatment of victims is a demonstration of our societies solidarity with eachindividual and recognition that such treatment is essential to the moral integrity of society. It istherefore crucial not only to combat and prevent crime, but also to properly support and protectindividuals who do fall victim to crime. One of the primary concerns of the RJE project and this book isrestorative justice. While we are still learning about the strengths and limitations of restorative justice,this book helps us to reect on its implications for victims and their rights. One of the aims of theVictims Directive is to ensure that restorative justice practices are delivered safely and in the interest ofthe victim. It is important that as we move forward with the implementation of the Directive that theconcerns and wishes of victims and professionals are heard.

    Therefore, I commend the RJE project and the authors of this book for including victims voices inthe construction of their scientic and practical results. I was particularly pleased to see chapterswritten by victims as well as material that aim to empower victims directly in pursuing their rights.

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    ForewordOlivier Tell

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    I want to congratulate the Editor, the authors and everyone who was involved in writing this book,which brings together the key nding from the project that we have co-nanced. While it summarisesthe extant literature, it also provides new evidence on effective practice and key recommendations forthe improvement of our criminal justice and restorative justice processes.

    Olivier Tell is Head of Procedural Criminal Law, Directorate-General Justice, European Commission.

    October 2014, Brussels.

    Foreword

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    IARS Publications Restorative Justice Series

    IARS is a leading, international think-tank with a charitable mission to give everyone a chance toforge a safer, fairer and more inclusive society. IARS achieves its mission by producing evidence-based solutions to current social problems, sharing best practice and by supporting young people toshape decision making. IARS is an international expert in restorative justice, human rights andinclusion, citizenship and user-led research.

    IARS vision is a society where everyone is given a choice to actively participate in social problemsolving. The organisation is known for its robust, independent evidence-based approach to solvingcurrent social problems, and is considered to be a pioneer in user-involvement and the application of

    user-led research methods. IARS delivers its charitable mission:

    By carrying out action research and evaluation that is independent, credible, focused and current By acting as a network that brings people and ideas together, communicates best practice and

    encourages debates on current social problems By supporting the individual (with an emphasis on young people) to carry out their own initiatives

    to shape decision-making By being an authoritative, independent and evidence-based voice on current social policy matters

    To continue making a contribution to disadvantaged peoples lives, we need the support of likemindedindividual like you. Your generosity will make a huge difference to vulnerable members of our society byallowing us to continue our work. Join us today by emailing [email protected]

    Our membership benet package includes the following benets for you and your employees:

    Up to 10% discount to our CPD training events and our Annual RestorativeJustice Expert Seminars

    Up to 10% discount to our CPD online training courses 10% discount to our Annual Conference 10% discount to all our hard copy books and publications including Youth Voice Journal 1 hard copy per annum of our bi-annual peer-review Youth Voice Journal (RRP 9.99 per issue) Free Advertisement of events and vacancies in our monthly newsletter Priority tickets to our free events Membership to our Policy Response Group and participation to consultation responses Membership to the Restorative Justice Research Network 1 hard copy of our annual impact report. 25% discount of advertising space on our hard and soft copy publications.

    Membership Packages

    Individuals : 35 per year Organizations: Up to 10 paid staff 45; 11-20 paid staff 70;

    21-50 paid staff 100; 50+ paid staff 150

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    IARS Publications Restorative Justice Series

    IARS Publications is a branch of IARS, which acts as an independent, small publisherspecialising in social science books and research studies. All our publications are peer reviewedby our international Editorial Board.

    Authors who want to publish with IARS should submit an initial inquiry to the Editor-in-Chief Dr.Theo Gavrielides [email protected] IARS Publications adhere to the Code of Conduct forJournal Editors.

    To order please email [email protected] or visit our online Book Store:

    http://iars.org.uk/content/IARSpublications

    IARS member are entitled to a 10% discount on all publications. To nd out how to become amember please see the information on page 257 or go to the IARS website:

    http://www.iars.org.uk/content/join-us-member

    By buying our publications you support the charity as every pound we receive is re-invested intoour programmes. We are a registered charity and all our services are NOT for prot making.

    Postage is based on Royal Mail prices

    IARS strives for and guarantees 100% customer satisfaction. We take great care to describeaccurately the bibliographic details, condition and authenticity of what we sell. In the unlikelyevent that there has been an error in any of these areas, we will be happy to provide a full refundof the cost of purchase on return of the item. Please see below for further details of salespolicies, including our return policy.

    All prices are net. As a charity, we are not registered for VAT and all our services are not for

    prot. Prepayment is required except for bona de buyers.

    IARS Publications

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    IARS Restorative Justice Training Programmes

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    IARS Publications Restorative Justice Series

    IARS has a history of delivering high quality face to face and online training packages toindividuals and organisations. We have supported several organisations including publicservices, third sector organisations and policy bodies in our three areas of expertise: Justice -Equalities - Young People. We have also helped them introduce a user-led element into theirway of thinking, research and policy work. IARS is a CPD training provider and all our coursesand events are accredited with CPD points.

    IARS is offering bespoke training packages that suit to organisations; if you would like to requestmore information please contact us at [email protected] . Our members receive a special discountof 10% to all our training packages. If you are not member and you want to join see the informationon page 265.

    Victims Rights and Restorative JusticeHaving being piloted 21 times in ve different countries with over 1,131 individuals and 383organisations, the Victims Rights and Restorative Justice Training Programme has been developedto equip restorative justice professionals with the tools and knowledge that they need to conformwith the new Victims Directive focusing on its restorative justice requirements. It will also increase

    their knowledge on how to treat and interact with victims. The training programme is certied ( 20CPD points), and it is the output of the two year EU funded project Restorative Justice in Europe:Safeguarding Victims And Empowering Professionals(RJE), that aims to facilitate theimplementation of the EU Victims Directive 2012/29/EU establishing minimum standards on therights, support and protection of victims of crime.

    The training programme is also available as an e- course and can be accessed at

    http://www.rj4all.info/ content/RJE-etraining

    Free e- course for Victims of crime: Asserting your rightsThe course aims to empower victims by increasing their knowledge of their rights in the criminal justice and restorative justice process as these are protected EC Victims Directive due to come intoforce in November 2015. According to the EU the goal of the new Directive is to improve the real, day-to-day situation of millions of victims of crime across Europe to the greatest extent possible. IARS isresponding to this Call through the release of this e-training course. This includes information onvictims rights, support and protection. The training programme can be undertaken by victims of anycrime, based in the UK, Europe and internationally. The course is the output of the two year EU fundedproject Restorative Justice in Europe: Safeguarding Victims and Empowering Professionals .

    To access the training course please visit http://www.rj4all.info/content/victimscourse

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    Following erce campaigning by victims groups, theinternational community has entered into a debatethat aims to move the victim from the margins to thecentre of the criminal justice system. For the rst time,restorative justice is explicitly regulated at EU legal level, as anew Victims Directive aims to establish a baseline for its safe

    implementation across member states. This ground-breaking andtimely edited collection aims to contribute to this internationaldebate.

    The book aims to challenge current thinking while highlighting good practicesthat respect and safeguard victims in justice processes. The book uses acombination of theoretical and empirical analysis while utilising original researchdata collected by the Restorative Justice in Europe project. Leading experts take boldsteps in advancing the debate for a victim-led criminal justice system. The book also aims togive voice to victims directly by involving them as authors of its chapters/ case studies and asresearch participants. The book also includes sample training material, best practice andguidelines created by the RJE project through the contribution of victims, offenders and experts fromacross Europe.

    The Restorative Justice in Europe Programme is co-nanced by the European Commission(EC Grant Agreement JUST/2011-2012/JPEN/AG/2951).

    Thank you for your activeengagement with the Ministry of Justice in progressing this important project that will help inform futurerestorative justice policy. Gaining theinsight of victims, offenders and practitioners will be important inconsidering how restorative justice practice

    can be made more effective for the publicUK Ministry of Justice

    This book brings together the key finding from the RJE project that we have co-financed. While itsummarises the extant literature, it also provides new evidence on effective practice and key recommendations for the improvement of our criminal justice and restorative justice processes

    I commend the RJE project and the authors for including victims voices in theconstruction of their scientific and practical results Olivier Tell, Head ofProcedural Criminal Law, Directorate-General Justice, European Commission.

    Governments around the world should open a debate about what is themost important for victims in the justice process Victim of crime andRJE participant participant.

    Funded by the Criminal JusticeProgramme of the European Union

    IARS is a leading, international think-tank with acharitable mission to give everyone a chance to forge

    a safer, fairer and more inclusive society.

    RRP: 9 99