Although it has been almost 50 years since “Restorative Justice” (RJ) emerged in Criminology, it figures in most of the current discussions regarding the modernization of criminal justice system. The restorative approach proposes a different interpretation of an offense (seeing it as more than just lawbreaking) and thus involves encounters between people concerned by the same offense, establishment of a safe space for dialogue, recognition of the suffering, etc. But is RJ just about a ‘meeting’ between offender and victim or it is more than that? What is the basic concept(s) of RJ? Is there any generally accepted definition of it? Both Masahiro Suzuki and Hennessey Hayes come from Griffith University in Australia, which has an important tradition on RJ research. In this article, the authors try to summarize and to synthesize what we basically know about RJ till now and to present the undiscovered issues or the challenges of it. It is a good introduction to the basic concept of RJ as well as to the current dialogues inside the RJ community.

Article:

• SUZUKI Masahiro and HAYES Hennessey (2016), “Current Debates Over Restorative Justice: Concept, Definition and Practice”, Prison Service Journal, Issue 228, November 2016

Professor Ivo Aertsen from KU Leuven, Belgium, is probably the most known European academician in the field of RJ and one of the founders of the European Forum for Restorative Justice (EFRJ). His work has been an enormous contribution to the RJ community. In this video Professor Aertsen explains briefly and in simple words basic concepts of RJ during his visit in Tbilisi for the EU-funded project “Support to the reform of the criminal justice system in Georgia”.

Video: 

• AERTSEN Ivo,  “Restorative Justice”, UNICEF Georgia

Restorative Justice (RJ) awareness campaign launched  by

the  Center for the Study of Crime (CESC)

in collaboration with

Katerina Soulou

PhD candidate Aix-Marseille University

European Forum for Restorative Justice (EFRJ) Board member

Athens, 17-24 November 2019