RJ World econference

The European Forum for Restorative Justice (EFRJ), in cooperation with other international and national organisations in the field of restorative justice, takes part in the first RJWorld 2020 e-Conference on 22-31 August 2020. During 10 days, participants from all over the world can listen to inspiring presenters – facilitators / practitioners / teachers / researchers / artists – who are passionate about sharing insights and ideas in the realm of restorative justice and restorative practices in all sectors. The e-Conference is entitled "Vision, Voices and Values".

Topics include: Criminal Justice / Youth Justice / Prisons / Legal and Judicial / Environmental Justice / Victim support / Schools / Faith / Academic / Hate Crime / Extremism / Literature / Sexual Violence / Creative Arts / Training / Policy.

 

                                                    EFRJ Keynotes

Tim Chapman

Tim Chapman will introduce a brief history of the development of restorative justice through a special perspective, focusing on a transition from an 'ego-centric' state towards full engagement with ecosystems. He will argue that this shift requires a fundamental reorientation and changes in concepts that have been seen as crucial to restorative thinking and practice.

Ivo Aertsen

Professor Ivo Aertsen has been already engaged with restorative justice when this way of responding to crime was far less known and accessible than today. He has not just witnessed the development of restorative justice throughout the last decades, but actively contributed to make restorative services more available, accessible and acknowledged in Belgium and internationally as well. The development that in some countries legal frameworks adopted the option to allow addressing serious crimes restoratively has been one of the significant achievements in the field. In his keynote lecture during the RJWorld 2020 eConference Professor Aertsen will take us through the recent history of restorative justice with a particular focus on its application in serious crime cases.

Brunilda Pali

The application of restorative justice in responding to environmental harm is a promising, fresh and rapidly developing approach. It presents a great opportunity to bridge the ineffectiveness of existing environmental responses and the pressing need to stop existing harmful practices, repair harms made and prevent future environmental damage, says Dr Brunilda Pali (Senior Researcher at the Leuven Institute of Criminology and EFRJ Board member), who will give a keynote on this unique topic on the RJWorld 2020 eConference . The lecture will be a great introduction to the topic and for those who had followed our publication of resources from last year a good opportunity to get up-to-date with latest developments of this area.

Gemma Varona

Gemma Varona will give a keynote lecture on restorative justice and violent extremism. She will introduce projects developed in the Basque Country involving victims and former perpetrators or combatants from different countries in Europe. Gemma works as a Lecturer in Victimology and Criminal Policy at the University of the Basque Country and is a senior researcher at the Basque Institute of Criminology in Spain. 

Fania Davis

Fania Davis is a senior civil rights activist from the USA. She is also a committed advocate of restorative justice, and combining these two areas she argues for racial justice. In her presentation she will discuss recent developments in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death, and explain that while blaming, judging, and punishing individual officers isn’t enough to address systematic injustices, what actions can help to heal historical traumas and repair harm experienced nation-wide. Her keynote provides a unique opportunity to reflect on the current uprising in the USA that has caused ripple-effects around the Globe.

                                                     EFRJ  Speakers 

Dr Marie Keenan

The presentation of Dr Marie Keenan (Associate Professor at the School of Social Policy, Social Work and Social Justice, University College Dublin is based on four decades of practice and research in the field of sexual violence, offered through the lens of a practitioner researcher who has worked in therapeutic, justice and community safety systems with victims, offenders and their families. The presentation focuses on one aspect of that work: restorative justice.

Ailbhe Griffith

Ailbhe Griffith is an advocate for victim-initiated restorative justice following her own experience of a restorative meeting with the person who offended against me in 2014. In her presentation she talks about her experience of crime and of the criminal justice system and what remained unresolved for her. She will share her experience of a restorative justice meeting with the person who harmed her and the long-term impact of the restorative meeting and her observations as to how it can help victims of crime, including those who have experienced serious sexual violence. 

Clauda Christen Schneider

Mediator and criminologist Claudia Christen-Schneider, the founder and president of the Swiss RJ Forum will present on how a 'trauma-informed care' approach can contribute to restorative justice processes in her lecture on the RJWorld 2020.

BELINDA HOPKINS

Reopening schools is a much discussed issue: when and how to do it responsively?Restorative schooling pioneer, Belinda Hopkins presentation will focus on what returning to school entails for students, staff and families and the RESTORE project that aims to help this process.

ANNEMIEKE WOLTHUIS

Our Vice-Chair’s, Annemieke Wolthuis will have an interview with Jaap Doek childrens’ rights expert on restorative justice and children. A good opportunity to learn about new developments, promising practices and challenges of the field.

IAN MARDER AND AARNE KINNUNEN

Dr Aarne Kinnunen and Dr Ian Marder are recognised for their policy work related to restorative justice internationally. They will present their discussion with Laura Hein the EFRJ’s Policy Officer and focusing on international legal instruments and guidelines that have been released in the recent years (Council of Europe Recommendation CM/Rec(2018), the UNODC’s Handbook on Restorative Justice Programmes and the EU’s Victims Right’s Strategy for 2020-2025).

JEE AEI LEE

Jee Aei Lee, Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Officer at the United Nations Office on Drugs (UNODC) will present the recently published 2nd edition of the Handbook on Restorative Justice Programmes in the context of the UNODC’s efforts to promote the use of restorative justice in criminal matters internationally. The talk will provide a special insight in the organisation's work within the field.

CLAIR ALDINGTON

Clair Aldington, artist& restorative practitioner from Scotland will present on how can art fertilise restorative justice processes. She will talk about her work that entails both domains and present her unique art objects. 

MARTA SA REBELO AND LAURA HEIN

Reflecting on the protests triggered by George Floyd’s death, Marta Sá Rebelo and Laura Hein will discuss how insights of transitional justice can integrate into a restorative approach and help to seek responses to such large scale and ongoing trauma. Both presenters are experts of these special areas: Marta Sá Rebelo from Portugal is researching the role of human rights in restorative justice. The EFRJ Policy Officer Laura Hein is exploring transitional justice cases in her research. 

Jennifer Llewelyn

Professor Jennifer Llewellyn will introduce the Restorative Research, Innovation and Education Lab (RRIELab) aiming to build an international movement around restorative justice. 

LINDSEY POINTER AND KATHLEEN MCGOEY

Lindsey Pointer and Kathleen McGoey (authors of The Little Book of Restorative Teaching Tools that was published recently) will offer a special insight into their work: teaching restorative practices through games and activities. 

Maija Gellin

How to create a restorative school culture and values such as respect, sense of community and participation? The rights of the child are more important than ever from the perspective of global health and well-being threats. Implementing the restorative approach in schools and day care is focusing not only giving restorative methods to school staff members but more to change the whole school culture to a restorative one. Based on 20 year experience in Finnish schools and the results of PhD research, this session is opening the key concepts of a restorative school community. 

Annegrete Johanson

In this session there will be an overview of developing restorative justice in Estonia in the last years. Annegrete Johanson will explain how restorative practices are evolvingin this country during Covid-19 times.

Joakim Hope Soltveit

In this conversation, Miriam Attias and Joakim Hope Soltveit reflect on the use of restorative justice in cases of polarisation, intergroup conflict and hate crime. They refer to the basics of restorative justice, naming those values and practice principles which are at the core of the movement, and they present challenges and opportunities to be considered by restorative justice professionals when offering a restorative justice process to those parties involved in a conflict, or even violent crime, as a consequence of polarisation and hate. 

RJ WORLD eCONFERENCE 2020

Grazia Manozzi, Gian Luigi Lepri and Chiara Perini

Restorative Justice Cities

A dialogue on “restorative cities” in an ideal passing of the baton between the first Chair of the EFRJ Working Group on Restorative Cities and the current one. After presenting the main examples of “restorative cities” that have developed concretely in Europe, the speakers will try to apply the SWOT Analysis to the “restorative cities” projects, evaluating their Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. The goal is to contribute to the work planning of the EFRJ Working Group and all those involved in promoting “restorative cities”.

RJ WORLD eCONFERENCE 2020

Frauke Petzold and Lutz Netzig

Domestic Violence and Restorative Justice

Frauke Petzold and Lutz Netzig will focus on the specifics, possibilities and risks of applying restorative justice in cases of domestic violence.  Questions/topics within the presentation:

  • Characteristics of the particular case constellation and dynamics of the violent relationship
  • Work in the gender-mixed mediation team, Co-mediation
  • Individual approaches, gender-specific advice
  • Individual discussions, mediation discussion, balance sheet discussion
  • Cooperation partners, networking
  • Perspectives of victims, dealing with traumatisation
  • Influence of domestic violence for children
  • Exclusion criteria
RJ WORLD eCONFERENCE 2020

Simone Grigoletto and Anna Matczak

Forgiveness, Apology and Restorative Justice

Although apology and forgiveness are often associated with each other and discussed as powerful elements of a restorative justice process, they are not necessarily interrelated. The aim of this conversation is to delineate the fragilities of these two elements. The notion of apology will be discussed based on empirical findings from Poland, which explore how lay people’s confidence in apology is limited due to cultural and socio-linguistic reasons. Similarly, forgiveness, when taken to be the primary goal to be reached by a restorative process, can generate mistrust and suspicion. This is especially true on the victims’ side who feel to be forced to grant it. Neither apology, nor forgiveness (while being valuable and very powerful tools) can play this role. A fundamental question then arises: what is the goal of Restorative Justice?

RJ WORLD eCONFERENCE 2020

Malini Laxminarayan and Baudouin Menasebu

Restorative Justice and LGBT Hate Crime

This presentation will present preliminary findings from the Lets Go By Talking project (funded by the European Union´s Justice Programme 2014-2020), made up of 6 partners and coordinated by the University of Barcelona, which aims to better understand how to engage this group of victims in finding restorative means for conflict resolution. Their unique experience, largely due to the fact that the crime is an attack on their identity, requires a specific approach and more detailed understanding of how best to apply restorative justice.

You may buy your tickets, via our event-link, by doing so you support the work of the EFRJ with the 25% of the price.