A Promising Development of Restorative Justice in Catalonia

The Adult Offender Mediation Program started in Catalonia in 1998 and from 2015 it was renamed the Restorative Justice Programme (RJP). Previously, penal mediation had been applied in the field of juvenile justice, with offenders under the age of 18. However, this article will refer exclusively to the latest restorative justice developments in Catalonia within the framework of adult offenders.

Catalonia is a north eastern region of Spain, with 8,067,454 inhabitants (2024) and its capital Barcelona. Catalonia has devolved powers from the state to organise its own public administration regarding education, social welfare, health, criminal justice (prisons, probation, juvenile justice, restorative justice), etc. 

Regarding restorative justice (RJ), while the organisation of the service falls on the Catalan government, the legal framework is state-wide. 

Until 2025 there was no specific legal framework for restorative justice in Spain. Restorative justice practices were based on the indirect possibilities offered by our Penal Code (articles 21.5, 104.5, 84.1, etc.) and later, also on the Victim of Crime Statute (a law of 2015, transposition of the EU Directive 2012/29) which, for the first time, mentioned restorative justice in the Spanish legal framework and specified the right of victims to access to restorative justice. But restorative justice did not have a legally recognised and structured place in the criminal judicial procedure.

Recently, the Constitutional Law 1/2025, of January 2, on measures regarding the efficiency of Justice as a Public Service, introduced the Additional Provision Nine of the Criminal Procedure Law, that is the first procedural regulation regarding restorative justice in Spain. This is a very relevant change but its impact has not yet been able to be assessed, neither in general nor regarding the specific development of restorative justice in Catalonia that is explained in this article.

Restorative Justice in Catalonia is a public service that depends on the Department of Justice of the Catalan Government. The Department of Justice promotes, subsidises, leads and supervises the Restorative Justice Programme (RJP), but it is implemented through an NGO (currently, the AGI Foundation). 

From its origins and until 2022, the Restorative Justice Programme grew significantly at a conceptual and technical level with the incorporation of new methodologies, intervening at various stages of the criminal process and with different types of crimes; but its resources did not develop in accordance with its conceptual, technical, and methodological advancements. In 2022 the Restorative Justice Programme had only 16 facilitators throughout Catalonia and it only covered, with difficulty, the main cities. The lack of enough professionals to address all possible cases across the territory meant that the RJP remained stagnant in terms of the number of victims to which a restorative response could be given, and there was a conscious effort to avoid any type of promotion of the Programme that could lead to an increase in demand that could not be met. 

It was from 2023 that the progress that is currently taking place in the Catalan restorative justice field began. Three factors have converged for this advancement:

•  A Restorative Justice Programme prepared to grow: trained professionals with great experience; successful restorative practices in different sectors (courts, prisons); and a good technical and conceptual basis. 

• A shared technical and strategic vision of the present and future of restorative justice between the public administration and the NGO responsible for the daily practice; 

•  A political vision that prioritises the development of restorative justice, and consequently provides the necessary resources.

The main goal of the current restorative justice development is to consolidate restorative justice as a normal and habitual response to crime throughout the entire Catalan territory, which is concerned with repairing the harm caused to the victims of crimes, as well as to the communities, and the accountability of the offender, in all stages of the criminal process and regarding all kind of offences. All victims should have the equal right to access to restorative justice regardless of where they live or any other circumstances. 

Nevertheless, the territorial extension of the RJP could not be done all at once. As mentioned, the RJP had few professionals and limited experience, both territorially and regarding the number of cases handled. We did not know what response a wide dissemination of the RJP might have, nor did we know the number of professionals needed to provide a proper coverage to the different parts of Catalonia, nor the judges' response to the possibility of referring to restorative justice. For this reason, we decided to start the expansion through a pilot project to be developed in the South, at Tarragona and Terres de l’Ebre, during a period of three years: 2024-2027.

The implementation of the pilot project (PP, from now) was designed during the second half of 2023 and the beginning of 2024 by a steering team made up of managers of the Department of Justice and representatives of the NGO involved, together with the active collaboration of the Centre for Legal Studies and Specialised training (the Centre for research and training of the Department of Justice). The steering team’s work focused on the following:

• Exhaustive project planning: objectives, procedures, resources, key results, etc.
• Selection and training of new professionals (facilitators, coordinator and administrative support). It had first been necessary to calculate the number of professionals needed to cover all the judicial districts of Tarragona and Terres de l’Ebre, as well as to cover the coordination with victim support teams, prisons and probation
• Communication and dissemination plan
• Follow up and evaluation

The main goal of the PP is to deploy and evaluate the full potential of restorative justice in a pilot territory with the aim of, based on the results obtained, extending restorative justice to the rest of Catalonia. The necessary number of professionals was calculated and provided. Until 2023 the RJP had professionals working in Tarragona and Terres de l’Ebre. In April 2024, 13 new professionals were hired (10 facilitators, 1 coordinator, 2 administrative support). A wide initial training, coaching and follow up of these new professionals was designed and implemented to carefully manage their integration into the Catalan restorative justice team.

To deploy and evaluate the full potential of restorative justice, the PP pursues the following objectives regarding Tarragona and Terres de l’Ebre:

• Apply restorative justice at all stages of the criminal procedure (before, during, and after trial)
• Apply restorative justice to all types of crimes
• Promote referrals from all judicial bodies of the criminal justice system
• Promote referrals from prisons, probation and victim support services
• Unfold and evaluate the entire set of methodological alternatives of restorative justice (mediation, circles, conferencing, restorative interviews, etc.)
• Evaluate the implementation of the PP, the process followed, and the results obtained

The direction, monitoring, and evaluation of the PP fell on two teams:

1. The already mentioned steering team that continues to be responsible for the direction and planning of the PP, setting new goals and prioritising actions.
2. The evaluation team. From the beginning, to involve a university in the evaluation of the PP was considered very important. A research group of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (AUB) accepted leadership of the evaluation process. So, the evaluation team is composed by a group of researchers of the AUB (that collects and analyses any relevant data and information about the project evolution) and the steering group that participates in the analysis and interpretation of results, and in the subsequent decision-making.

Furthermore, the responsibility for implementing restorative justice, following the guidelines of these two groups, lies with the restorative justice team of Tarragona and Terres de l’Ebre who is doing a great work to extend restorative justice through dissemination and the accessible presence of the coordinator and the facilitators in courts and prisons; working closely with probation and victim support teams; and meeting victims and perpetrators offering and developing high quality restorative justice.

As already mentioned, the PP implementation began in April 2024. The main actions developed from April to December were:

• Selection, training and coaching of new professionals
• A wide dissemination of restorative justice and the Pilot Project: there was a very demanding communication plan that involved professionals from the Department of Justice and the RJ-NGO, and that covered all the criminal courts of Tarragona and Terres de l'Ebre, the central services of the Department itself, the probation and victim support teams as well as the two prisons in the territory and other professionals and institutions as lawyers' association, prosecutors, etc.
• The implementation of restorative justice in prisons and in all the courts, most of which were not involved previously
• The development of coordination and referral protocols (restorative justice and prisons; restorative justice and probation; restorative justice and courts; restorative justice and victim support teams) and their dissemination

Regarding the current year, we have three main aims: to increment the number of referrals from courts and prisons; to obtain information about the restorative justice process from its participants (victims and offenders); and to begin the implementation of restorative justice in probation and in the victim support teams. To achieve these aims, the main actions that are being carried out are:

• New dissemination actions in prisons and in courts (especially in those that are not referring and in those that the judge changed) 
• Organisation and implementation of restorative justice activities in prisons: connected with treatment programmes, the restorative justice team carries out activities that introduce the perspective of the victim and promote reparation
• Create a questionnaire to gather the opinions of victims and perpetrators about the JR process followed and obtain some initial results
• Work with probation teams and victim support teams to promote referrals, following the corresponding protocols

Regarding evaluation, it is based on a continuous assessment. The evaluation team meets every three months and revises the quantitative and qualitative evolution of the PP. In addition, all of us are informed about quantitative key results every month. Continuous evaluation allows us to make decisions about the PP and redirect the planned actions when they are not achieving the expected results.

A first complete evaluation report will be provided by the UAB at the end of the present year (At the midway point of the three year PP). Meanwhile, there are some results that can already be shared. We have achieved:

• A new restorative justice team in Tarragona and Terres de l’Ebre, trained and experienced
• A great advancement in the knowledge of restorative justice by all judges in the criminal field throughout the territory 
• A great advancement in the knowledge of restorative justice by professionals working in prisons, probation and victim support teams
• A new questionnaire to assess the victims and perpetrators’ opinions about the restorative justice process 
• A significant increase of referrals in the PP territory comparing the period of January to June (2024 and 2025): from 475 referrals to 700 referrals. And a significant increase of restorative justice processes carried out: from 576 to 801 in the same period.

And finally, a short mention of difficulties. It must be taken into account that the implementation of restorative justice is not an easy question: information and dissemination is crucial and, even when extra care is taken in this regard, it often turns out to be difficult because of multiple reasons (some judges are against restorative justice, constant changes of key professionals occur and dissemination has to begin again, etc.); the role of facilitators is also difficult as they must combine their own work with the role of communicators. Nevertheless, the project is progressing and the results are promising.

Marta Ferrer is the Deputy Director of Probation in the Department of Justice and Democratic Quality. She is in charge of Victim Support and Restorative Justice in Catalonia.

Published on the 16th of September 2025