Eastern Europe

As many eastern European countries work to reform their justice systems, restorative processes are becoming key elements, especially in addressing youth crime.

Balahur, Doina. Multidimensional Restorative Justice for Everyone: Romanian developments.: In this intervention, I have taken into account the fact that comparative analysis, regarding the implementation of restorative justice programs and practices, must be accomplished within the framework of the current general trend that exist in the European States, but, wider, of the developments in other cultural areas. (excerpt)
Wright, Martin. 2005. Can restorative justice reduce the burden on the criminal justice system?Paper presented to conference on ‘Forming a Ukrainian restorative justice model’, organized by Ukrainian Center for Common Ground, Kyiv, 10-11 February 2005.: This paper will consider what are the difficulties faced by the CJS, and why are the difficulties not being resolved? It will then suggest what can be done about them. Firstly, there are conventional responses, and then a different response based on restorative principles will be proposed. Finally the possible effects of such an approach will be explored, including the important role of those who administer the justice system and will be responsible for making sure that the restorative process lives up to the restorative ideal. (excerpt)
Community Justice Centers in Armenia: In 2006, two Community Justice Centers opened in Armenia to provide restorative justice services to first-time young offenders. They were developed by an NGO, Project Harmony, and Armenian law enforcement professionals and educators. In this article, Renee Berrian, programme manager with Project Harmony, provides an overview of the development of the Community Justice Centers in Armenia.
Ukrainian Centre for Common Ground. Introduction of Restorative Justice in Ukraine: Results and Perspectives.: Compilation of proceedings from an international conference exploring the introduction of restorative justice into the Ukraine.
Skurbaty, Alan. Human Rights in Juvenile Justice Reform in Ukraine: Restorative Principles as a Desideratum.: This article discusses the following themes: I) Introduction: what is Restorative Justice and what are the Implications for Juvenile Offenders?; II) Current Situation with Ukrainian Youth: Precipitating Factors for Juvenile Delinquency; III) Situation with Juvenile Justice in Ukraine: Persistent Human Rights Concerns; IV) Human Rights in Administration of Juvenile Justice of Ukraine: Recommendations of the UN Committee on the Rights of a Child.
Hrncic, Jasna and Marinovic, Tijana and Vujacic-Richer, Dusica and Marinovic, Tijana and Ilic, Gorana and Vujacic-Richer, Dusica. Promoting Good Practices of Victim Offender Mediation in Serbia: A Journey to Improving Quality Standards of Practices.: In may 2006 a New Code for Criminal Proceedings was adopted by the Serbian Parliament which would be enacted on the first of januari 2007. It would make provisions for a “settlement with the injured party” for adult offenders. Also, for the first time in Serbia, this would provide a legal basis for implementation of victim offender mediation for adult offenders. (excerpt)
Marchal, An. On the Summer School in Pilsen.: It is clear that training of mediators (volunteers and professionals) is of high importance. Much know how and experience has been developed at local, national level. But a strong need was felt to cross national boarders and to learn from others who develop training programs and standards, for example by bringing up a pool of supportive practitioners. For the first time, in June/July 2005 a European Summerschool for trainers and practitioners of victim offender mediation took place in Pilsen (Czech Republic). 24 participants of different countries participated, and worked together on different themes.(author's abstract)
Anonymous. Rules Pertaining to the Unified Register of Mediators.: These rules shall set forth the terms and procedure for inclusion in the Unified Register of Mediators (hereinafter “the Register”), which shall be established and maintained by the MOJ of Bulgaria. (excerpt)
Maksudov, Rustem. The Old Civilization in the New Russia: In this article, Rustem Maksudov writes about the possibility of a transition from a system of "correction" to restorative justice in Russia. Following an analysis of the situation in Russia with respect to crime and criminal justice, Maksudov details the emergence and development of restorative justice ideas and practices in Russia. Particular attention is given to the work of the Centre for Legal and Judicial Reform and its efforts to develop and implement a victim-offender reconciliation program. Discussion of case examples illustrates the work of the Centre. Maksudov highlights collaborations between the Centre and other relevant organizations in Russia.
Chankova, Dobrinka. Victim Offender Mediation's Potential.: Dobrinka Chankova, Director of the Institute for Conflict Resolution in Bulgaria, recently published a book on victim offender mediation. The book, written in Bulgarian, provides a history of victim offender mediation and its potential in the Bulgarian justice system. Dobrinka has provided an English summary of the book, which was published by Feneya Press in Sofia.
Dinsdale, Jennifer. Restorative Justice in HM Prison Holme House: A Research Paper: The International Centre for Prison Studies initiated the Restorative Prison Project to examine the conceptual framework for imprisonment and to work with the Prison Service in Great Britain to apply restorative principles in the prison setting. One site for this work is HM Prison Holme House in northeast England. In 2001 Jennifer Dinsdale, a graduate student unaffiliated with the Restorative Prison Project, conducted research into the feasibility of restorative schemes in Holme House. She looked particularly at prisoners’ perceptions of the impact of their crimes on their victims, the openness of prisoners to engaging in reparative activities, and prisoners’ perspectives on their relationship to the community outside the prison. This paper reports her research findings.
Czarnecka-Dzialuk, Beata and Wojcik, Dobrochna. Victim-offender mediation in Poland: The authors mark the beginning of interest in mediation in Poland in the early 1990s. A group of government employees and representatives from a non-governmental organizational helping prisoners visited German mediation centers. At the same time, several researchers and academics in criminology and especially juvenile justice became interested. They sought new ways of responding to crime – helping juveniles better and meeting the needs of victims. An organizing group worked on directions for the development of mediation programs in Poland: experiments in mediation; legal principles; training for mediators; seminars and conferences; and publication of information on mediation. Experimental programs targeted at juveniles were initiated in 1996, and other steps were taken (e.g., an international conference in 1995, and training sessions for mediators). The Codes of Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure (in force since 1998) include specific articles on victim-offender mediation. The Minister of Justice regulates the process of mediation and the people and organizations permitted to conduct mediation. The Juvenile Justice Act does not have special provisions concerning victim-offender mediation, but its flexibility permits the application of mediation in this sphere. Among criminal justice officials and legal structures there is significant support for mediation in juvenile justice. It is not clear that there is the same level of support for mediation in adult justice cases. Judges, prosecutors, and police express interest in the possibilities but also raise deep concerns about it. The authors present statistics on the number and types of mediation cases, mediation organizations, and mediators in Poland. They also provide an overview of the practice of mediation.
Chankova, Dobrinka. Restorative Justice in Bulgaria.: Dobrinka Chankova of the Institute For Conflict Resolution in Sofia, Bulagaria provides a look at the movement for restorative justice in her country.
. Restorative justice in Belgian prisons.: In 2000 the positive evaluation of this research led to the decision of the federal government that all Belgian prisons should evolve towards a restorative justice-oriented detention system. In order to guide this process of change one restorative justice adviser was appointed in each prison. An important remark here is that the size of the prison was not taken into account. Small prisons (with for example only 60 or 100 inmates) as well as bigger ones (with a few hundreds of inmates) all got one adviser. The reason for this was that the advisers were hired to work at the management level of the prison. They were supposed to work at the policy level of the prison, their task not being to work individually with inmates. The restorative justice advisers started working at the end of 2000. A circular letter of 4 October 2000 set up the framework within which the task had to be developed and which described, amongst others, the role of the restorative justice advisers. (excerpt)
Fellegi, Borbála. Summary of the Central and Eastern European AGIS Project: Between December 2003 and December 2005 the European Forum coordinated an AGIS project focusing on ‘Meeting the challenges of introducing victim-offender mediation in Central and Eastern Europe’ with the financial support of the European Commission. The project involved experts from Albania, Austria, Belgium. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Moldova, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovenia, Turkey, Ukraine and the UK. In this article, I intend to summarise the main motivations behind starting this project. Secondly, I will give an outline of the Final Report of the project including the main issues discussed. Then some of the conclusions and points for further discussion will be presented. Finally, some of the important elements of the working process will be discussed. (excerpt)
Abrashev, Boris. Setting up of Victim Offender Mediation Centre in Varna.: A training seminar for mediators and criminal justice practitioners took place in Varna (Bulgaria) on 2-3 December 2004. It was the third of a series of events, organised by the Help Foundation - a local Bulgarian NGO working in the field of crime prevention and rehabilitation of ex-offenders. The event was financially supported by the Council of Europe within the framework of Integrated Projects 2 - “Responses to Violence in Everyday Life in a Democratic Society”. (excerpt)
Koval, Roman. Forming a Ukrainian model of restorative justice.: Restorative justice was introduced in Ukraine in 2004 through a pilot programme run by the Ukrainian Centre for Common Ground (UCCG) in Kiev. The pilot programme succeeded in establishing a working partnership with the judicial system, developing a mechanism for co-operation with the courts and training a cadre of specialists in victim-offender mediation (VOM). Due to the achievements made during the pilot programme, the UCCG was encouraged by representatives of the legal system and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to expand the project to other regions of Ukraine. Since the summer of 2004, VOM programmes have been developed in five regions of the country. Co-operating with state and legal institutions in each region, Ukrainian NGOs have developed a variety of mechanisms to implement restorative justice programmes. These activities have had a significant impact. (excerpt)
Chankova, Dobrinka. Bulgarian Mediation Act - A delayed start of a new Velvet Revolution in the justice system.: The year 2004 ended happily for the mediation society in Bulgaria: on December 2nd, the Bulgarian Parliament finally adopted the long expected Mediation Act. The Act was promulgated in State Gazette N 110 on 17 December 2004 and enforced on 20 December 2004. Considering that the pre-enforcement history of the law was wrought with hurdles, this was definitely a huge success. (excerpt)
Kunová, Jana. Probation and mediation in the Slovak Republic.: This article presents a short overview of the development of the probation and mediation service in Slovakia. (excerpt)
Koval, Roman. Restorative Justice Implementation in Ukraine.: The first restorative justice project has been initiated by an NGO (Ukrainian Centre for Common Ground (UCCG)) and it is functioning on a pilot basis in Ukraine since January 2003. The Restorative justice project is designed for 3 years. It sets for itself the following tasks: establish good relations with justice system institutions; develop a system to establish rules and procedures through which cases are outsourced for mediation; train victim-offender mediators; implement the system as a pilot in Kiev; extend the project to regions outside Kiev; develop an evaluation mechanism to assess the effectiveness of the current restorative justice model; increase public awareness of the theory and practice of restorative justice through media, web-site development and training workshops for legal system representatives; use opportunities for institutionalisation at national and sub-national levels. The first year of the project was focused only on restorative justice implementation in Kiev, but now there is an intention to spread restorative justice practices into five regions in Ukraine. (excerpt)

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Navigation Lecture Hall Introduction to Restorative Justice Restorative Justice around the World Africa Asia Europe Juvenile Justice Prisons Schools Eastern Europe Standards European Union Evaluation Community Articles from RJ Online All Documents Latin America Middle East North America and the Caribbean Pacific Educational Opportunities Restorative Justice Theory Making Amends Restorative Justice Course Syllabi Book Reviews Video Reviews Real People, Real Stories Practice Manuals Evaluation Research Evaluation Tools Role Plays Using Restorative Practices	Info Eastern Europe As many eastern European countries work to reform their justice systems, restorative processes are becoming key elements, especially in addressing youth crime. Balahur, Doina. Multidimensional Restorative Justice for Everyone: Romanian developments. In this intervention, I have taken into account the fact that comparative analysis, regarding the implementation of restorative justice programs and practices, must be accomplished within the framework of the current general trend that exist in the European States, but, wider, of the developments in other cultural areas. (excerpt) Wright, Martin. 2005. Can restorative justice reduce the burden on the criminal justice system?Paper presented to conference on ‘Forming a Ukrainian restorative justice model’, organized by Ukrainian Center for Common Ground, Kyiv, 10-11 February 2005. This paper will consider what are the difficulties faced by the CJS, and why are the difficulties not being resolved? It will then suggest what can be done about them. Firstly, there are conventional responses, and then a different response based on restorative principles will be proposed. Finally the possible effects of such an approach will be explored, including the important role of those who administer the justice system and will be responsible for making sure that the restorative process lives up to the restorative ideal. (excerpt) Community Justice Centers in Armenia In 2006, two Community Justice Centers opened in Armenia to provide restorative justice services to first-time young offenders. They were developed by an NGO, Project Harmony, and Armenian law enforcement professionals and educators. In this article, Renee Berrian, programme manager with Project Harmony, provides an overview of the development of the Community Justice Centers in Armenia. Ukrainian Centre for Common Ground. Introduction of Restorative Justice in Ukraine: Results and Perspectives. Compilation of proceedings from an international conference exploring the introduction of restorative justice into the Ukraine. Skurbaty, Alan. Human Rights in Juvenile Justice Reform in Ukraine: Restorative Principles as a Desideratum. This article discusses the following themes: I) Introduction: what is Restorative Justice and what are the Implications for Juvenile Offenders?; II) Current Situation with Ukrainian Youth: Precipitating Factors for Juvenile Delinquency; III) Situation with Juvenile Justice in Ukraine: Persistent Human Rights Concerns; IV) Human Rights in Administration of Juvenile Justice of Ukraine: Recommendations of the UN Committee on the Rights of a Child. Hrncic, Jasna and Marinovic, Tijana and Vujacic-Richer, Dusica and Marinovic, Tijana and Ilic, Gorana and Vujacic-Richer, Dusica. Promoting Good Practices of Victim Offender Mediation in Serbia: A Journey to Improving Quality Standards of Practices. In may 2006 a New Code for Criminal Proceedings was adopted by the Serbian Parliament which would be enacted on the first of januari 2007. It would make provisions for a “settlement with the injured party” for adult offenders. Also, for the first time in Serbia, this would provide a legal basis for implementation of victim offender mediation for adult offenders. (excerpt) Marchal, An. On the Summer School in Pilsen. It is clear that training of mediators (volunteers and professionals) is of high importance. Much know how and experience has been developed at local, national level. But a strong need was felt to cross national boarders and to learn from others who develop training programs and standards, for example by bringing up a pool of supportive practitioners. For the first time, in June/July 2005 a European Summerschool for trainers and practitioners of victim offender mediation took place in Pilsen (Czech Republic). 24 participants of different countries participated, and worked together on different themes.(author's abstract) Anonymous. Rules Pertaining to the Unified Register of Mediators. These rules shall set forth the terms and procedure for inclusion in the Unified Register of Mediators (hereinafter “the Register”), which shall be established and maintained by the MOJ of Bulgaria. (excerpt) Maksudov, Rustem. The Old Civilization in the New Russia In this article, Rustem Maksudov writes about the possibility of a transition from a system of "correction" to restorative justice in Russia. Following an analysis of the situation in Russia with respect to crime and criminal justice, Maksudov details the emergence and development of restorative justice ideas and practices in Russia. Particular attention is given to the work of the Centre for Legal and Judicial Reform and its efforts to develop and implement a victim-offender reconciliation program. Discussion of case examples illustrates the work of the Centre. Maksudov highlights collaborations between the Centre and other relevant organizations in Russia. Chankova, Dobrinka. Victim Offender Mediation's Potential. Dobrinka Chankova, Director of the Institute for Conflict Resolution in Bulgaria, recently published a book on victim offender mediation. The book, written in Bulgarian, provides a history of victim offender mediation and its potential in the Bulgarian justice system. Dobrinka has provided an English summary of the book, which was published by Feneya Press in Sofia. Dinsdale, Jennifer. Restorative Justice in HM Prison Holme House: A Research Paper The International Centre for Prison Studies initiated the Restorative Prison Project to examine the conceptual framework for imprisonment and to work with the Prison Service in Great Britain to apply restorative principles in the prison setting. One site for this work is HM Prison Holme House in northeast England. In 2001 Jennifer Dinsdale, a graduate student unaffiliated with the Restorative Prison Project, conducted research into the feasibility of restorative schemes in Holme House. She looked particularly at prisoners’ perceptions of the impact of their crimes on their victims, the openness of prisoners to engaging in reparative activities, and prisoners’ perspectives on their relationship to the community outside the prison. This paper reports her research findings. Czarnecka-Dzialuk, Beata and Wojcik, Dobrochna. Victim-offender mediation in Poland The authors mark the beginning of interest in mediation in Poland in the early 1990s. A group of government employees and representatives from a non-governmental organizational helping prisoners visited German mediation centers. At the same time, several researchers and academics in criminology and especially juvenile justice became interested. They sought new ways of responding to crime – helping juveniles better and meeting the needs of victims. An organizing group worked on directions for the development of mediation programs in Poland: experiments in mediation; legal principles; training for mediators; seminars and conferences; and publication of information on mediation. Experimental programs targeted at juveniles were initiated in 1996, and other steps were taken (e.g., an international conference in 1995, and training sessions for mediators). The Codes of Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure (in force since 1998) include specific articles on victim-offender mediation. The Minister of Justice regulates the process of mediation and the people and organizations permitted to conduct mediation. The Juvenile Justice Act does not have special provisions concerning victim-offender mediation, but its flexibility permits the application of mediation in this sphere. Among criminal justice officials and legal structures there is significant support for mediation in juvenile justice. It is not clear that there is the same level of support for mediation in adult justice cases. Judges, prosecutors, and police express interest in the possibilities but also raise deep concerns about it. The authors present statistics on the number and types of mediation cases, mediation organizations, and mediators in Poland. They also provide an overview of the practice of mediation. Chankova, Dobrinka. Restorative Justice in Bulgaria. Dobrinka Chankova of the Institute For Conflict Resolution in Sofia, Bulagaria provides a look at the movement for restorative justice in her country. . Restorative justice in Belgian prisons. In 2000 the positive evaluation of this research led to the decision of the federal government that all Belgian prisons should evolve towards a restorative justice-oriented detention system. In order to guide this process of change one restorative justice adviser was appointed in each prison. An important remark here is that the size of the prison was not taken into account. Small prisons (with for example only 60 or 100 inmates) as well as bigger ones (with a few hundreds of inmates) all got one adviser. The reason for this was that the advisers were hired to work at the management level of the prison. They were supposed to work at the policy level of the prison, their task not being to work individually with inmates. The restorative justice advisers started working at the end of 2000. A circular letter of 4 October 2000 set up the framework within which the task had to be developed and which described, amongst others, the role of the restorative justice advisers. (excerpt) Fellegi, Borbála. Summary of the Central and Eastern European AGIS Project Between December 2003 and December 2005 the European Forum coordinated an AGIS project focusing on ‘Meeting the challenges of introducing victim-offender mediation in Central and Eastern Europe’ with the financial support of the European Commission. The project involved experts from Albania, Austria, Belgium. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Moldova, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovenia, Turkey, Ukraine and the UK. In this article, I intend to summarise the main motivations behind starting this project. Secondly, I will give an outline of the Final Report of the project including the main issues discussed. Then some of the conclusions and points for further discussion will be presented. Finally, some of the important elements of the working process will be discussed. (excerpt) Abrashev, Boris. Setting up of Victim Offender Mediation Centre in Varna. A training seminar for mediators and criminal justice practitioners took place in Varna (Bulgaria) on 2-3 December 2004. It was the third of a series of events, organised by the Help Foundation - a local Bulgarian NGO working in the field of crime prevention and rehabilitation of ex-offenders. The event was financially supported by the Council of Europe within the framework of Integrated Projects 2 - “Responses to Violence in Everyday Life in a Democratic Society”. (excerpt) Koval, Roman. Forming a Ukrainian model of restorative justice. Restorative justice was introduced in Ukraine in 2004 through a pilot programme run by the Ukrainian Centre for Common Ground (UCCG) in Kiev. The pilot programme succeeded in establishing a working partnership with the judicial system, developing a mechanism for co-operation with the courts and training a cadre of specialists in victim-offender mediation (VOM). Due to the achievements made during the pilot programme, the UCCG was encouraged by representatives of the legal system and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to expand the project to other regions of Ukraine. Since the summer of 2004, VOM programmes have been developed in five regions of the country. Co-operating with state and legal institutions in each region, Ukrainian NGOs have developed a variety of mechanisms to implement restorative justice programmes. These activities have had a significant impact. (excerpt) Chankova, Dobrinka. Bulgarian Mediation Act - A delayed start of a new Velvet Revolution in the justice system. The year 2004 ended happily for the mediation society in Bulgaria: on December 2nd, the Bulgarian Parliament finally adopted the long expected Mediation Act. The Act was promulgated in State Gazette N 110 on 17 December 2004 and enforced on 20 December 2004. Considering that the pre-enforcement history of the law was wrought with hurdles, this was definitely a huge success. (excerpt) Kunová, Jana. Probation and mediation in the Slovak Republic. This article presents a short overview of the development of the probation and mediation service in Slovakia. (excerpt) Koval, Roman. Restorative Justice Implementation in Ukraine. The first restorative justice project has been initiated by an NGO (Ukrainian Centre for Common Ground (UCCG)) and it is functioning on a pilot basis in Ukraine since January 2003. The Restorative justice project is designed for 3 years. It sets for itself the following tasks: establish good relations with justice system institutions; develop a system to establish rules and procedures through which cases are outsourced for mediation; train victim-offender mediators; implement the system as a pilot in Kiev; extend the project to regions outside Kiev; develop an evaluation mechanism to assess the effectiveness of the current restorative justice model; increase public awareness of the theory and practice of restorative justice through media, web-site development and training workshops for legal system representatives; use opportunities for institutionalisation at national and sub-national levels. The first year of the project was focused only on restorative justice implementation in Kiev, but now there is an intention to spread restorative justice practices into five regions in Ukraine. (excerpt) Next 20 items » [1] 2 3 Document Actions Send this Print this	Africa Asia Europe Latin America Middle East North America and Caribbean Pacific Search 10530 publications on restorative justice Recent RJOB Comments conference May 07, 2012 conference May 07, 2012 Agreement to participate May 04, 2012 More… Slide Show: What is Restorative Justice Click to view a slideshow discussing the definition of restorative justice. May 25, 2012 Project Myriam celebrates 10 years May 24, 2012 InnerChange Freedom Initiative Celebrating 15 years Apr 25, 2012 Sycamore Tree Programme from Prison Fellowship England and Wales Apr 13, 2012 PF Swaziland volunteer brings victims and offenders together Apr 13, 2012 PF Nicaragua providing legal services for prisoners