EFRJ Newsletter Vol.15, Issue 3

Christa Pelikan from the Institute for the Sociology of Law and Criminology (IRKS) based in Vienna received the 3rd European RJ Award. The award ceremony took place before the conference dinner in Belfast on 13 June 2014. In this article Christa shares personal thoughts and her longstanding experience in the field of RJ.

Anamaria Szabo examines the implementation of mediation practices in Romania. From the genaral introduction of mediation in both penal and civil cases in 2006, the author analyzes mediation practices in criminal cases, providing a description on the referral process, eligible types of crimes and challenges mediation practices are facing today in Romania.

This article of Niall Kearney and Bill Whyte provides an overview of the RiSC (Restoration in Serious Crime) project.The general aim of the project is to develop a practice model, drawing on restorative practice values and principles, that addresses the harm caused in serious incidents in which those involved know each other and the behaviour resulted in death or serious injury.

Eric Wiersma describes the most important moments of the conference in Belfast, bringing us back to the plenary sessions, workshops and social events. You can compare his experience with yours and if you were not there this article provides an idea of what you have missed out in June.

Moroney, S. (2011) Through the glass. Toronto: Doubleday Canada.

Putintseva, N. (Ed.) (2012) Restorative justice in Russia.Translated from Russian by E. Erofeeva and N. Silkina. Moscow: Public Center for Legal and Judicial Reform.

Wallis, Pete (2014) Understanding restorative justice: how empathy can close the gap created by crime Bristol: Policy Press.

Exploring the potential of restorative justice for
sexual violence. This conference is the final event of the Daphne Project JUST/2011/DAP/AG/3350 financed by the European Commission entitled ‘Developing integrated responses to sexual violence: an interdisciplinary research project on the potential of restorative justice.’ It will take place on 12–14 November 2014, at the University of Leuven, Belgium. Further information is available from the Conference web page.

International RJ Week 2014 and RJ symposium (Banff). This year, the international RJ Week will take place during November 16–23, 2014. Further details from the Correctional Service Canada. The EFRJ encourages local partners and members across Europe and beyond to organize an ‘RJ Lunch on Inspiring Innovation’ during RJ Week. More information on how to arrange an RJ Lunch and receive support from the EFRJ is available from the RJ Week page.

2014 National Restorative Justice Symposium
(NRJS).Hosted by the Alberta Restorative Justice Association (ARJA) in Banff from November 16–18, 2014, the keynote speaker will be Dr Howard Zehr! For further information sign up on the ARJA website.

Conference on victims’ protection (Belgrade).The
Victimology Society of Serbia is pleased to announce its fifth Annual Conference ‘Victim protection: international law, national legislation and practice’, which will be held on 27–28 November 2014 in the Hotel Park, Belgrade. Further information is available from the Victimology Society of Serbia.

The EFRJ encourages local partners and members across Europe and beyond to organize an "RJ Lunch on Inspiring Innovation" during the RJ Week (16-23 November 2014). "The Future of RJ" will be the sub-theme for this year. The Forum will share the outcomes of different events through the website, social media, newsflashes and newsletters, giving international visibility to each single experience. More information on how to arrange the RJ Lunch and receiving support from the EFRJ are available at the RJ Week page. 

Articles Each edition we will feature a review of the field of restorative justice, reflections on policy developments and research findings/project outcomes. Please consider sharing your perspective with colleagues.

Book reviews We very much welcome reviews of books and articles from our membership. If you have published a book and would like to submit it for review, please send it to the Secretariat.

Events Please let us know about upcoming restorative justice related conferences and events. We are happy to share this information via the Newsletter or Newsflash.

Join forces with other RJ professionals throughout Europe and beyond and sign up via our website: www.euforumrj.org.

The process only takes 5 minutes. You can also contact the Secretariat at info@euforumrj.org or at the address below.

As a member you will receive:
• three electronic plus one printed newsletters a year
• regular electronic news with interesting information
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• and much, much more . . .