RJ – the European landscape – Restorative measures in youth and adult criminal law and organisational aspects

• In Event: Restorative Justice in Europe – the European landscape in the context of the International Encyclopaedia of Restorative Justice

Abstract

The European volume of the Encyclopedia will have 48 national reports covering all jurisdictions of the Council of Europe and even Belarus and Russia, which are not CoE-member states. In the early 1980s, first Restorative Justice measures were mediation schemes, predominantly used in juvenile justice as extra-judicial diversionary measures, later also conferencing and other extended forms of RJ followed, more recently also in the post-sentencing stage (during the execution of probation and prison sentences). In most counties the scope was widened covering also the general criminal law for adults. As most advanced jurisdictions can be identified Austria, Belgium, Finland, The Netherlands, Northern Ireland, and Norway. With a 15 years’ time lag also the former Eastern bloc countries followed, but im many cases with serious implementation problems, as former retributive ideas are still influencing the practice. In the meantime, good evaluative research (e.g in NL, UK, Belgium) reveal positive outcomes as regards satisfaction of victims and the reintegrative potential for offenders. However, in most jurisdictions the numbers of restorative justice cases remain low, demanding for policy strategies to expand the application of RJ. The paper will discuss new reform developments in selected jurisdictions.

Author

• Andrea Parosanu, Victroria University of Wellington