Call for Proposals

The European Forum for Restorative Justice is known for creating a space for exchange and discussions between policy makers, academics, legal professionals and practitioners dedicated to the field of restorative justice. 

The 12th international seminar of the EFRJ will be dedicated to restorative justice policies, their impact on practice and their links to other criminal justice policies. The following themes and questions will be explored in the parallel workshops. 

The seminar will mostly focus on recent policy developments in the field of restorative justice (and related ones in criminal justice), at the regional, national and/or international levels, and how policy work and decisions have an impact on practice and research.

We especially welcome presentations and panel discussions from members of the “European Restorative Justice Policy Network”, members of the national networks “Restorative Justice Strategies for Change”, and members of the EFRJ Working Groups and Committees. 

If you are not member of these networks and groups, we still encourage you to propose a workshop session dedicated to your work, main areas of interest, challenges and opportunities in the field of restorative justice. 

Reflections and discussions can focus on practice developments, quality standards (for practice and training), legislation (regional, national and international), interagency cooperation (including relationship/ trust building with relevant stakeholders), awareness raising (with the public as well as with interested professionals), research (particularly data collection and evaluation), mostly within the criminal justice system (but other areas can also be explored). 

The following questions may trigger some reflections in the parallel workshop sessions.

• Practice developments - Why does it matter to work at the policy level? How can policy influence practice? How can restorative justice values and practice principles influence governance models (in prisons, cities, schools, etc.)? How can we encourage a restorative culture within existing criminal justice systems? How to ensure that restorative justice becomes mainstream in all jurisdictions? How to design and implement a regional and/or national action plan for the development of restorative justice? 
• Quality standards - How to be self-critical and still constructive about restorative justice work, also when challenges arise? How to define “success” in a restorative justice case and how to translate all  outcomes (even when not successful) in policy strategies? How to encourage its use in specific settings (e.g. in cases of gender based violence, with child victims) and ensure high quality practice standards?
• Legislation - How can EU or other international policy instruments influence change at the regional, national and/or international level? How to put into practice policy documents? What challenges and opportunities do you experience with existing (or not existing) restorative justice legislation in your country? How would you imagine a potential European directive on restorative justice?
• Interagency cooperation - How to ensure more mutual support, connections and cooperation between policy work done at the regional, national and/or international level? How to encourage more sharing of experiences within the restorative justice field (practice, policy, research) and with other fields (such as victim support, prison, probation, urban security)? How to establish local partnerships (e.g. with the police, victim support, municipality, health services, research centres) to guarantee better responses to citizens’ needs of justice and security? How to establish dialogue with professionals and organisations showing resistance over the implementation of restorative justice in certain cases? How can the EFRJ support regional and/or national policy work and how can its members and partners support the EFRJ’s international policy work?
• Awareness raising – What strategies are in place to raise public awareness, and especially to inform policymakers, the judiciary, legal and social work professionals, about the benefits and challenges of restorative justice? How to foster cooperation with the media, and introduce restorative justice through the mainstream entertainment and communication channels (e.g. television, cinema, radio)? How to engage with participants (i.e. victims/ survivors and those responsible for the harm) to make their personal justice journeys known to the wider public?
• Research - How to propose, deliver and evaluate high quality restorative justice practices and training to increase better access to restorative justice services? What research methodologies exist to evaluate restorative justice services and provide evidence of the efficacy and efficiency of restorative justice? How to align quantitative and qualitative data collection of restorative justice cases to the methodologies used in criminal justice? How to measure the social impact of restorative justice to support policymaking and funding of services? How to translate research findings in advocacy strategies?

We encourage participants to actively participate in the programme of the seminar by submitting a proposal for one of the parallel workshops. Please note that the Scientific Committee may re-contact you to revise the contents, format and/or timing, if needed. You can choose among one of these types of formats:

• Panel discussion – 80 minutes (This session involves a group of minimum 2 presenters introducing a topic and facilitating a dialogue with the audience; the proposal must include the introduction to the topic as well as potential questions for discussion; please contact other presenters and submit a joined abstract)
• Presentation – 20/30/40 minutes (This session is meant for individuals willing to share their work, experiences, practices or research findings; this individual contribution will be combined with others of a similar theme into one parallel session)
• Other – in case you have another format in mind (e.g. skills training, movie screening, poster show) please specify your format in the abstract.

Proposals must be submitted using the form below accompanied by:

• Personal contact details (name, job title, organisation, email, country), including emails of potential co-authors
• Title of your proposal (max 10 words)
• Type of contribution: panel discussion, presentation or other
• Time needed for the contribution: 20-30-40-80min
• Language of your contribution (Spanish or English) - Note: Submissions can be done in Spanish, if the workshop will be held in Spanish.
• Abstract or detailed description of the session ( max 400 words)
• Five keywords that describe the workshop
• Biography of the presenter(s) (max 50 words)

Please save your proposal in a Word document and copy paste your responses in the webform for your own reference. 

The deadline for submitting a workshop proposal was 20 March 2023. In case you missed this deadline, you can still submit your proposal until 20 April to be included in the waiting list in case of cancellations: you will be informed by the beginning of May about the status of your application. Please remember that all presenters must register to the seminar.