News and events

The IIRP invites you to submit a proposal to present at its 12th World Conference, October 21-23, 2009, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania,USA

June 8 - 19, 2009: The Central European University, Cardozo Law School, New York and Hamline University School of Law, Minnesota are organising a course titled "Mediation and Other Methods to Foster Democratic Dialogue"

Australian Radio Program Presents Show on Restorative Justice

Victim Support Europe has launched its first manifesto, calling for the establishment of victim support organisations in all EU Member States and for the protection and promotion of victims' rights to become an EU priority. (source: Victim Support Scotland)

Restorative Justice Online informs about the availability of short clips on restorative justice on the broadcasting service YouTube.

In the report of the last meeting of the CEPEJ, the representative of the European Committee on Legal Co-operation (CDCJ) pointed out that mediation is a field in which the CDCJ might, over the next two years, envisage updating certain recommendations in the light of the guidelines adopted by the CEPEJ.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has published a new book titled 'Handbook on Restorative justice programmes'.

On 14 June 2006, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted Recommendation Rec(2006)8 on assistance to crime victims. Point 13 of the appendix to this recommendation refers to mediation.

The Restorative Justice Consortium (UK) has compiled various studies from all over the world that looked into the effect of restorative justice on re-offending.

A survey from SmartJustice and Victim Support showed that victims are not that punitive as commonly thought.

There was "unprecedented interest" in restorative justice at the 11th United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, in April 2005, in Bangkok, Thailand.

The last issue of the VOMA Connections (No.19, Winter 2005) includes a comprehensive article on "Community Involvement in Restorative Justice" by Martin Wright, assisted by Orlane Foucault. The full article can be downloaded from the website of the Victim Offender Mediation Association (www.voma.org).

"Supporting Pupils, Schools and Families: An Evaluation of the Hampshire Family Group Conferences in Education Project," a report by the University of Sheffield, England, U.K., evaluates 50 family group conferences (FGCs) carried out in schools in Hampshire County, from implementation through many months after each conference.

The Restorative Justice Consortium (UK) has recently published a useful document collecting the most frequently asked questions and their answers concerning the implementation and application of restorative processes in the adult criminal justice system in England and Wales.

Results of a follow-up study on the effects of a restorative environment on young offenders have replicated the positive conclusions of the original study, "Evaluation of a Restorative Milieu: CSF Buxmont School Day Treatment Programs 1999-2001."

"Mapping Restorative Justice: Developments in 25 European Countries", edited by David Miers and Jolien Willemsens for the European Forum for Victim-Offender Mediation and Restorative Justice (2004) is an up to date publication in the field of restorative justice. It gives a very good overview of what really is happening in practice, legislation and policy, as well as what does research show on the evaluation of restorative justice programmes in Europe.

Rebuilding Community Connections – Mediation And Restorative Justice, written by Ivo Aertsen, Robert Mackay, Christa Pelikan, Jolien Willemsens and Martin Wright (2004).

Guidelines published by the Training and Accreditation Policy Group of the British Home Office consists a list of core knowledge and skills which RJ practitioners should have; how they should prepare participants to take part in the process; how to facilitate the process itself, with face-to-face meetings, reaching agreement, and following up afterwards.

New research by Theo Gavrielides (LL.B, LL.M, PhD) and Dale Coker (BA, MSc, MA) shows restorative justice (RJ) values of compassion, communication, understanding, honest repentance, forgiving and reintegration could be used to construct an auxiliary system to deal with the sexual offences that occurred in the Catholic Church.

For four years a victim-offender mediation experiment took place in Ringsted, Roskilde, and Glostrup police districts in Denmark. CASA (the Centre for Alternative Social Analysis) has followed the experiment during all 4 years and has made a final evaluation.

The Relational Justice Bulletin is published three times a year by the Relationships Foundation.

Restorative Justice Online announced that Canada and New Zealand are the first countries to have started the process of creating guidelines and standards for the use of restorative justice programmes.

Dr. Howard Zehr has been awarded the 2003 International Prize for Restorative Justice by the PFI Centre for Justice and Reconciliation.

Restorative Justice Online collected on-line resources that address the many issues in the debate around the use of restorative justice in cases of domestic violence.

Restorative Justice Online collected information about webbased manuals for starting restorative justice programmes.

In Research Summary, published by Corrections Research and Development, Solicitor General Canada, the question was posed "Can restorative justice programs influence offender recidivism?"

In July, the British Home Office published its new strategy on restorative justice.

The initiative to set up a European Network of National Contact Points for Restorative Justice was discussed in the European Parliament.

A COST (European Cooperation in the field of Scientific and Technical Research) action on "Restorative Justice Developments in Europe" has been launched.

Although the UN Basic Principles were not adopted at the Eleventh Session of the UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, they were endorsed, thereby encouraging Member States to make use of them.