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◈ Re-Justice is an EU-funded project concerning judicial training in restorative justice.
◈ Both the EU Victims’ Directive (2012/29/EU), establishing minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime, and the Council of Europe Recommendation 8(2018) encourage Member States to implement restorative justice.
◈ United Nations ECOSOC Resolution n. 12/2002 (Basic Principles on the Use of Restorative Justice Programmes in Criminal Matters) also promotes restorative justice. How to best make restorative justice available and accessible is also described in UNODC Handbooks on restorative justice programmes. 2020 edition addresses several emerging topics.
◈ RE-JUSTICE promotes, through training, a way to the process of raising awareness, building knowledge and developing skills and attitudes related to restorative justice amongst judges and public prosecutors.
◈ RE-JUSTICE involves several relevant actors: the European Judicial Training Network (EJTN), the European Forum for Restorative Justice (EFRJ), national schools for the judiciary, European universities, and other subjects.
◈ Re-Justice combines research, teaching and learning innovation, and professional training in a challenging field.
◈ Re-Justice allows judges, prosecutors, scholars, academics, restorative justice practitioners, and other relevant stakeholders to be involved in the assessment of training needs, the design of a training course, the creation of tools aiming at the dissemination of restorative justice, its implementation in the European Union, the coordination and collaboration among restorative justice services and the judiciary.
Partnership
The RE-Justice project is funded by the European Union’s Justice Programme (2014-2020). It will run for 24 months from November 2019.
The project is an international collaboration between a number of different partner organisations, including national judicial training schools and universities. The Catholic University of Leuven (KU-Leuven) in Belgium is the project coordinator. The three other university partners are the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (Alta Scuola “Federico Stella” sulla Giustizia Penale, Department of Legal Sciences), and the University Carlos III of Madrid, from Greece, Italy and Spain respectively. National judicial training schools represented in the project as partners are the National School of Judges (Ethniki Scholi Dikastikon Litourgon) in Greece, the School for the Judiciary (Scuola Superiore della Magistratura) in Italy, the General Council of the Judiciary (Consejo General del Poder Judicial) in Spain and the Institute for Judicial Training (Instituut voor gerechtelijke opleiding/L'Institut de formation judiciaire) in Belgium. Additionally, the European Judicial Training Network, which is based in Belgium, is also a project partner. The project is also joined by two non-governmental organisation partners who are the European Forum for Restorative Justice and the Moderator Forum for Restorative Justice and Mediation.
RE-JUSTICE is a project promoting, through training, a sustainable way to the process of raising awareness, building knowledge and developing skills and attitudes related to restorative justice amongst judges and public prosecutors, firstly and mainly in Greece, Spain and Italy and, ultimately to contribute to the promotion of the same process at the 27 EU Member States’ level.
Drawing on expertise from universities and judicial training schools in all four countries and Belgian NGOs with specific expertise on restorative justice, the training will be constructed to suit the particular training needs of the judges and public prosecutors in Greece, Italy and Spain and to address the main legal issues raised by the implementation of restorative justice in criminal matters. The pilot training will be delivered in a ‘blended learning’ style, fostering direct involvement and active participation of the trainees. Further, the training package provided will take into account both the European Union legislation concerning the rights of victims and of the suspected and accused persons , and the recommendations from the Council of Europe and the United Nations concerning restorative justice in criminal matters together with national legal frameworks.
Concretely, the project aims are to:
The following activities have been carried out (November 2019-March 2022)
❖ A competency profile on restorative justice for judges and public prosecutors has been created.
Training needs on restorative justice for judges and public prosecutors have been assessed thanks to a participatory empirical research, involving focus groups with both professional target groups, national and transnational meetings and reports.
The training course on restorative justice has been designed using both a blended learning approach and a participatory, active, experiential teaching and learning style.
The projects results and outcomes will be disseminated thanks to the training manual and a number of journal articles.
❖ A competency profile on restorative justice for judges and public prosecutors has been created.
❖ Training needs on restorative justice for judges and public prosecutors have been assessed thanks to a participatory empirical research, involving focus groups with both professional target groups, national and transnational meetings and reports
❖ The training course on restorative justice is currently being designed using both a blended learning approach and a participatory, active, experiential teaching and learning style
❖ Learning materials, including audio-visual ones, have been created; a manual for judicial training in restorative justice has been drafted and translated (English, Greek, Italian, Spanish)
❖ Pilot training courses in Greece, Italy and Spain have been delivered and evaluated.
❖ Findings from the study are being presented at conferences.
❖ Pilot training courses in Greece, Italy and Spain have been delivered and evaluated.
1 European Union, DIRECTIVE 2012/29/EU OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 25 October 2012 establishing minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime, and replacing Council Framework Decision 2001/220/JHA
2 European Union, DIRECTIVE 2012/13/EU OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 22 May 2012 on the right to information in criminal proceedings; Directive 2010/64/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 October 2010 on the right to interpretation and translation in criminal proceedings; Directive 2013/48/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 October 2013 on the right of access to a lawyer in criminal proceedings and in European arrest warrant proceedings, and on the right to have a third party informed upon deprivation of liberty and to communicate with third persons and with consular authorities while deprived of liberty; Directive (EU) 2016/343 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 March 2016 on the strengthening of certain aspects of the presumption of innocence and of the right to be present at the trial in criminal proceedings; Directive (EU) 2016/800 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2016 on procedural safeguards for children who are suspects or accused persons in criminal proceedings; Directive (EU) 2016/1919 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 October 2016 on legal aid for suspects and accused persons in criminal proceedings and for requested persons in European arrest warrant proceedings.
3 Council of Europe, Recommendation CM/Rec(2018)8 of the Committee of Ministers to member States concerning restorative justice in criminal matters
4 United Nations, Basic Principles on the Use of Restorative Justice Programmes in Criminal Matters, ECOSOC Res. 12/2002.
Per informazioni:
➟ Silvia Randazzo, KU-Leuven & EFRJ ➟ silvia.randazzo@kuleuven.be - silvia.randazzo@euforumrj.org
➟ Claudia Mazzucato, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore ➟ claudia.mazzucato@unicatt.it
