INDEPENDENT ACADEMIC RESEARCH STUDIES

A VICTIM-LED CRIMINAL
JUSTICE SYSTEM:
ADDRESSING THE PARADOX
Edited by Theo Gavrielides

The book can be purchased from

http://www.iars.org.uk/content/
IARSpublications
Independent Academic Research Studies (IARS)
IARS PUBLICATIONS
14 Dock Offices Surrey Quays Road, London SE16 2XU, United Kingdom
+44(0) 20 7064 4380 contact@iars.org.uk www.iars.org.uk
IARS is a leading, international think-tank with a charitable mission to give everyone a chance to forge
a safer, fairer and more inclusive society. IARS achieves its mission by producing evidence-based solutions
to current social problems, sharing best practice and by supporting young people and the community to
shape decision making. IARS is an international expert in user-led research, justice, equalities and
youth related issues.
IARS vision is a society where everyone is given a choice to actively participate in social problem solving.
The organisation is known for its robust, independent evidence-based approach to solving current social
problems, and is considered to be a pioneer in user-involvement and the application of user-led
research methods

Published in the UK by IARS Publications

2014 IARS
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Database right IARS Publications (maker)
First published November 2014
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or
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ISBN 978-1-907641-27-5

Funded by the Criminal Justice

Programme of the European Union

Project Partners - Restorative Justice in Europe: Safeguarding Victims & Empowering Professionals

Restorative Justice Nederland (RJN) is a center of expertise and innovation in the field
of restorative justice. Our aim is to encourage a participatory society of active citizens
who are involved as much as possible in the handling of their own conflicts and the
restoration of the consequences for victims, offenders and the community. As a
grassroots charity we bring together policy makers, scientists, practitioners from
different societal sectors and other stakeholders in order to stimulate where possible
the application of restorative justice and restorative practices.
The European Public Law Organisation (EPLO) is an international inter-governmental
organization headquartered in Athens, Greece, whose specific mandate is the creation
and dissemination of knowledge in the area of public law and the promotion of
European values through public law throughout the world. The Organizations Board
of Directors comprises its 13 Member States, the European Commission, the Council of
Europe and 63 Universities and institutions from 33 countries. Professor Vasso
Artinopoulou is Head of the Crime and Criminal Justice Unit, since 2011.
The Institute for Police and Security Research (IPoS) at the University of Applied
Sciences and Administration has been researching for many years in the field of
Restorative Justice. It has also been a partner in the project Mediation and Restorative
Justice in Prison Settings (MEREPS) and is supervising the national-wide Victimoffender-mediation statistics in Germany. IPoS is an interdisciplinary oriented institute
which has conducted and still conducts numerous studies in the research areas legal
psychology, law, criminalistics and criminology.
The Institute of Conflict Resolution is an association of lawyers, researchers and
university professors. It follows a number of objectives, including: exploration of
creative conflict resolution methods, based on the culture of dialogue; practice of
mediation, negotiation and other peaceful methods for dispute resolution, focusing on
restorative justice; preventing violence, youth offending and other antisocial behaviour;
protection of rights of crime victims; strengthening civil society and European
integration.

The Restorative Justice in Europe Programme is co-financed by the European Commission

(EC Grant Agreement JUST/2011-2012/JPEN/AG/2951)

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A Victim-led Criminal Justice System: Addressing the Paradox

IARS Publications Restorative Justice Series

A Victim-led Criminal Justice System: Addressing the Paradox
T. Gavrielides (Ed.) (2014)
London: IARS Publications. ISBN: 978-1-907641-27-5. Price: 9, 99
The European Union has recently entered into a process of legislative and policy reforms
with the aim of strengthening the rights of victims in criminal proceedings. By November
2015, all EU member states will need to have demonstrated that they have modified their
domestic laws to give effect to the Directive 2012/29/EU Establishing minimum standards
on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime (Victims Directive). For the first
time, restorative justice is explicitly regulated at the EU legal level, as the Victims Directive
aims to establish a baseline for its safe implementation across member states.
This ground-breaking and timely edited collection aims to contribute to this international
debate. The book aims to challenge current thinking while highlighting good practices that
respect and safeguard victims in the criminal justice and restorative justice processes.
The book uses a combination of theoretical and empirical analysis while utilising original
research data collected by the EU funded Restorative Justice in Europe (RJE) project. The
book is partly funded by the European Commission (EC Grant Agreement JUST/20112012/JPEN/AG/2951) through the Restorative Justice in Europe project.

E-book: Restorative Justice and Domestic Violence: A Critical Review

G. Loseby A. Ntziadima and T. Gavrielides (2014)
London: IARS Publications. ISBN: 978-1-907641-28-2. Price: 4, 99
This e-book reports on the current developments, practices and policies on the use of
restorative justice in cases of domestic violence in the UK and it aims to stimulate an open
and honest discussion about using restorative justice in such cases. The research also
reflects on limitations, inefficiencies and complexities of the current criminal justice system
in the UK.
The Restorative Justice and Domestic Violence: A critical Review forms the first stage of
the research that was conducted in the framework of the 2 year EU funded project
Restorative Justice in cases of domestic violence: Best practice examples between
increasing mutual understanding and awareness of specific protection needs, a
programme that aims to generate and pilot new knowledge on practices of restorative
justice and domestic violence and to identify criteria for offering restorative approaches to
such cases, in accordance with the Victims Directive.

E-book: Restorative Justice in the United Kingdom

B. Lyon, A. Matczak and T. Gavrielides (2012)
London: IARS Publications. ISBN: 978-1-907641-14-5. Price: 4, 99
The e-book explores and discusses the current provisions, legislation and practice of
restorative justice in the United Kingdom.
Comparisons between England, Northern Ireland and Scotland are drawn, and contrasts
between youth and adult practice are highlighted.
The struggles with the traditional criminal justice system and restorative practices place in
it are also considered.

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IARS Publications Restorative Justice Series

IARS Publications Restorative Justice Series

Waves of Healing: Using Restorative Justice with Street Group Violence
T. Gavrielides (2012)
London: IARS Publications. ISBN: 978-1907641-10-7. Price: 9, 99
Despite the impressive literature on restorative justice, the potential of its paradigm with
street group violence remain largely unexplored.
The financial, political and social implications that recent riots are having on governments
across the world spark a new debate on the appropriateness of restorative approaches in
relieving the overstretched and costly criminal justice system.
The book uses the case study method to investigate examples in India, Greece, Canada and
England, where restorative justice is considered within the context of street group violence.
Key issues are identified and recommendations are posited, as new policies, practices and
research are being proposed in this grey area of restorative justice.

Rights and Restoration Within Youth Justice

T. Gavrielides (Ed.) (2012)
Witby: de Sitter Publications. ISBN: 978-1-897160-62-6. Price: 37.00
Rights & Restoration within Youth Justice unites the principles and practices of human
rights and restorative justice. Leading international experts challenge current thinking on
evidence-based youth justice policy.
Through international case studies, a framework emerges for connecting human rights and
restorative justice approaches to criminal justice policy and practice.
This book is written by leading scholars in the field of restorative justice, human rights,
youth justice and policy and criminal justice. The project was carried out under the auspices
of IARS and the book was published by de Sitter Publications.

Restorative Justice and the Secure Estate:

Alternatives for Young People in Custody
T. Gavrielides (2011)
London: IARS Publications. ISBN: 978-1-907641-08-4. Price: 9, 99
This book focuses on the use of restorative justice with young people in custody in the UK,
and aims to achieve three objectives. Firstly, to provide and up-to-date descriptive account
of restorative practices within the secure estate.
This account looks at issues of classification, definition and understanding. Secondly, to
prevent a critical overview of existing restorative practices with the objective of establishing
the extent to which they influence the regimes and programmes of the secure estate.
Based on qualitative data from young people, practitioners, policy makers, victims,
offenders and academics, the book posits evidence-based recommendations for policy and
strategy analysts, researchers and practitioners at a critical point in time for the restorative
justice movement.

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A Victim-led Criminal Justice System: Addressing the Paradox

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IARS Publications Restorative Justice Series

Table of Contents
Editors Note & Acknowledgements
Theo Gavrielides

Foreword
Olivier Tell

PART I: A NEW NARRATIVE FOR VICTIM POLICY

1:

2:
3:

4:

Why Victims Voices matter in Criminal Justice Policy and Reform

Gabrielle Browne
The Fluidity of Victimhood
Elaine Shpungin
Restorative Justice and Sexual Violence:
Overcoming the Concerns of Victim-Survivors
Shirley Jlich and Fiona Landon
Achieving Balance: Towards Rights-centred Justice
Anne Hayden

PART II: SAFEGUARDING VICTIMS & EMPOWERING PROFESSIONALS:

FIVE COUNTRY CASE STUDIES
5:

6:

7:
8:
9:

10:
11:

The Victims Directive and the project Restorative Justice in Europe:

Safeguarding Victims and Empowering Professionals: An overview
Theo Gavrielides
From the Margins to the Centre: A Victim-focused Criminal
Justice System for the United Kingdom
Grace Loseby
The Victims Directive and Restorative Justice in Germany
Arthur Hartmann and Marie Haas
Empowering Restorative Justice in Greece: One Step Forward for Victims
Vasso Artinopoulou and Iro Michael
Safeguarding Victims and Empowering Professionals in The Netherlands:
State of the Art and Vision for the Future
Anneke van Hoek and Gert Jan Slump
More Justice for Crime Victims in Bulgaria
Dobrinka Chankova
Repositioning the Victim: Comparing and Learning
Theo Gavrielides

21

41
57

81

83

103
119
143

165
189
207
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A Victim-led Criminal Justice System: Addressing the Paradox

Chapter Title

PART III: CASE STUDIES & BEST PRACTICES

233

PART IV: EMPOWERING VICTIMS AND PROFESSIONALS: THE TOOLS

245

A Victims Guide to Restorative Justice

Victim and Offender Profile Assessment Tools
Appendices
Appendix A: About IARS
Appendix B: About IARS Publications
Appendix C: IARS Restorative Justice Training Programmes

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IARS Publications Restorative Justice Series

247
252
265
265
268
270

Editors Note & Acknowledgements

Theo Gavrielides
t is a great privilege to edit this book at a critical point in the development of new criminal justice
policies internationally. These reforms will arguably see the victim moved from the margins to the
centre of state attention. This is particularly true for Europe.
We tend to forget that the criminal justice system is a modern construct. In fact, much of what we
understand today as crime was seen by early communities as a conflict between individuals, while the
terms offender and victim were coined as a result of our modern, legal positivistic framework.
Despite my legal background, the term victim makes me feel uncomfortable as it fails to acknowledge
that in the harsh and complex reality of crime, the lines between labels are often blurred. However, for
the purposes of this book and a constructive debate that will hopefully help us move the forgotten
stakeholders out of the shadows, I accept the term.
According to historians, the victim was gradually pushed to the margins as the interests and power
of the state overtook those of the individual. This created a paradox that has endured for centuries.
Moving victims out of the shadows cannot be an easy task, as the same power structures that put them
there remain strong even in our modern societies.
It took humanity two World Wars and many civil conflicts to come to the table to agree to minimum
standards of behaviour for states. These were intended to control this state-led attitude including that
impacting on criminal justice. We called them human rights and recorded them in international
documents such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the European Convention
on Human Rights. I have always argued that the criminal process and the administration of criminal
justice by state agents is the field of battle in which human rights are tested. Therefore, over many
years, questions were being raised by communities, the victims movement and other civil society
organisations about states behaviour and compliance with the human rights of victims in the criminal
process.
In Europe, its Union had no other choice but to respond to this questioning. In the hope of achieving
consistency in victims rights protection across the EU, in 2001, the Commission passed a Framework
Decision, but this did not go far and deep enough. As a result, we now have a Victims Directive which
must be translated into domestic laws and policies by November 2015. It is hoped that this will provide
a baseline for minimum guarantees for victims.
Since passing the Directive, the EC invested resources in order to prepare member States for its
implementation. After a competitive process, IARS project Restorative Justice in Europe: Safeguarding
Victims and Empowering Professionals (RJE) was successful in receiving an EU grant and I had the
honour of coordinating its scientific and practical ambitions and outputs. Over twenty-four months,
IARS worked closely with its four European partners Restorative Justice Nederland (Netherlands), the
Institute of Conflict Resolution (Bulgaria), European Public Law Organization (Greece), and University of
Applied Sciences (Germany). We were also supported by 12 Associate Partners who are experts in the
area of victims and restorative justice: the University of Cyprus (Cyprus), Restorative Thinking (UK), the
Register of Restorative Practitioners (UK), Restorative Justice International (USA), the Forgiveness
Project (UK), HM Prison Altcourse (UK), the European Forum for Restorative Justice (Belgium), the

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A Victim-led Criminal Justice System: Addressing the Paradox

Note & Acknowledgements

Centre for Restorative Justice at Simon Fraser University (Canada), Prof. Gerry Johnstone (UK),
Foresee (Hungary), Ulster University (Northern Ireland) and Victim Support (UK).
We were adamant that our results were produced not just in English, but in all participating country
languages i.e. Greek, German, Dutch and Bulgarian. The victims and restorative justice literature is still
very thin when it comes to non-English sources and thus we hoped to make material accessible by
going the extra mile by making them accessible to local people.
After a thorough review of the extant literature and existing best practice, we produced over 20
reports sharing this information for free across Europe. Following this, we carried out fieldwork with
over 272 victims and offenders and 280 professionals working with victims either by providing victim
support, restorative justice or criminal justice services.
This gave us the evidence base to construct training material, manuals, best practice guidance and
protocols. In total, 27 face-to-face pilots were carried out in the five participating countries reaching
1,131 individuals and 383 organisations. We also used this material to produce an online course for
victims, which was downloaded 200 times. A separate e-course was also created for professionals. At
the time of writing, this was downloaded 50 times and like the face-to-face course it received CPD
accreditation (Continuing Professional Development). At the same time, we organised conferences and
seminars and made various presentations at national and international conferences while meeting with
our national and local decision makers.
The structure of this book was carefully considered bearing two objectives in mind. First, I wanted
to explore and propose a new narrative for victim policy. To achieve this, I combined evidence from
international guest papers (Part I) and the findings of the RJE project (Part II and III). Most of the guest
articles are written by victims who had the courage to share their personal experiences. My experience
and the evidence that we have gathered suggest that contrary to what many criminal justice
professionals believe, victims do want to talk and be included in the formation of practices and policies
that impact on them. I have always said that a true democracy is one that not only offers its citizens the
opportunity to participate, but also supports them in doing so. As we become more honest about our
intentions and available resources for criminal justice reforms, we must become more accountable
whenever we choose not to include victims directly in policy making. Therefore, an obligation is created
for national and European governments to respond to this call. Second, I wanted to offer a comparative
and critical perspective of current evidence and emerging themes that will facilitate the
implementation of this new narrative for victim policy including the Victims Directive.
I hope that the knowledge that we produced through the programme and this book, as well as the
tools that we made available will be used by professionals, decision makers and policy makers in their
efforts for a better criminal justice system. Having set up IARS, a user-led international institute that
aims to change policy and practice from the bottom up, it will not be suprising to read that my biggest
hope is that individuals/ users are empowered through our work and the training that we produced to
seek their rights under the new law. The victims and offenders whom we spoke feel that the existing
gatekeepers, entrenched practices and mind-sets are the true barriers in the implementation of our
proposed narrative for victim policy including the Victims Directive. The practitioners and other experts
who took part in our research also confirm this conclusion. While we foster an attitudinal change and a
cultural shift within our criminal justice systems, we must allow the human rights values of Freedom,
Respect, Equality and Dignity to guide us through our policy, institutional and legislative reforms.
I am proud to safely claim that the RJE project and this book went way beyond what we had
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IARS Publications Restorative Justice Series

Note & Acknowledgements

originally promised to the European Commission and it is to the credit of my team, our partners and
guest authors. This would not have been possible without the participation of the victims and other
users of the criminal justice system as well as the professionals who kindly gave their time. I am also
grateful to the Independent Advisory Group that we set up in order to provide advice and scrutinise our
direction.
I am particularly grateful to Ben Lyon (IARS trainer), Grace Loseby (IARS Justice Project
Coordinator) and Andriana Ntziadima (IARS Communications Manager). Special thanks go to IARS
Finance Manager, Hatixhe Demushi who very patiently kept track of our spent. Many thanks also go to
the country project leads Professor Artinopoulou (Greece), Professor Hartmann (Germany), Dr. van
Hoek (the Netherlands) and Professor Chankova (Bulgaria), and their respective research teams.
Thanks also go to the UK Ministry of Justice which provided us with support letters that made our
fieldwork easier and gave us access to various decision makers including relevant ministers and
decision making bodies such as the National Restorative Justice Implementation Board, prisons and
NOMS.
Dr. Theo Gavrielides (Founder and Director of Independent Academic Research Studies, Co-Director of the Restorative Justice for All
Institute, Visiting Professor at Buckinghamshire New University and Adjunct Professor at Simon Fraser University, School of
Criminology), Unit 14, Dock Offices, Surrey Quays Road, Canada Water, London SE16 2XU, UK, T.Gavrielides@iars.org.uk
+44(0)20 70644380.

October 2014, London.

Professor Theo Gavrielides

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A Victim-led Criminal Justice System: Addressing the Paradox

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IARS Publications Restorative Justice Series

Foreword
Olivier Tell
he European Commission has made the protection and support of victims of crime a priority and
is taking steps to ensure that their needs are met. Therefore, it is a great pleasure to write this
Foreword for Theo Gavrielides new book A victim-led Criminal Justice System: Addressing the
paradox.
As the title of the book suggests, we have been living a paradox in our modern criminal justice
systems. Although justice and criminal justice are primarily meant to restore the power imbalance and
hurt that are caused by crime, victims continue to be disempowered. At the European Union (EU) level,
therefore, we have taken recent legislative action to rectify this paradox by creating a baseline of
minimum safeguards and guarantees for victims across Europe.
The package of measures presented by the European Commission in May 2011 and in particular
the Directive 2012/029/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing minimum
standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime (the Victims Directive) will
ensure that victims are treated appropriately and without discrimination. Our aim is to ensure that
victims get access to justice though a range of rights that will allow them to actively participate in
criminal proceedings, to access support and assistance services, to be protected from secondary and
repeat victimisation, to be informed throughout the course of proceedings and to seek compensation
and restoration. Meeting the needs of victims plays an important role in assuring victims rights and
achieving a high quality of justice in the European Union. It is crucial to acknowledge victims, to take
their suffering seriously and to help them get on with their lives.
Once the transposition date of the Victims Directive on 16 November 2015 has passed, EU Member
States must implement at least the Directives minimum standards. In our attempt to prepare Member
States appropriately for the implementation of the Directive, we made funding available through a
competitive and open process. One of the projects that we co-financed was the Restorative Justice in
Europe: Safeguarding Victims & Empowering Professionals (RJE). This was run by the UK based
international NGO Independent Academic Research Studies (IARS) in partnership with four other
partners in Germany, the Netherlands, Greece and Bulgaria.
The appropriate treatment of victims is a demonstration of our societies solidarity with each
individual and recognition that such treatment is essential to the moral integrity of society. It is
therefore crucial not only to combat and prevent crime, but also to properly support and protect
individuals who do fall victim to crime. One of the primary concerns of the RJE project and this book is
restorative justice. While we are still learning about the strengths and limitations of restorative justice,
this book helps us to reflect on its implications for victims and their rights. One of the aims of the
Victims Directive is to ensure that restorative justice practices are delivered safely and in the interest of
the victim. It is important that as we move forward with the implementation of the Directive that the
concerns and wishes of victims and professionals are heard.
Therefore, I commend the RJE project and the authors of this book for including victims voices in
the construction of their scientific and practical results. I was particularly pleased to see chapters
written by victims as well as material that aim to empower victims directly in pursuing their rights.

5
A Victim-led Criminal Justice System: Addressing the Paradox

Foreword

I want to congratulate the Editor, the authors and everyone who was involved in writing this book,
which brings together the key finding from the project that we have co-financed. While it summarises
the extant literature, it also provides new evidence on effective practice and key recommendations for
the improvement of our criminal justice and restorative justice processes.
Olivier Tell is Head of Procedural Criminal Law, Directorate-General Justice, European Commission.

October 2014, Brussels.

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IARS Publications Restorative Justice Series

7
A Victim-led Criminal Justice System: Addressing the Paradox

IARS is a leading, international think-tank with a charitable mission to give everyone a chance to
forge a safer, fairer and more inclusive society. IARS achieves its mission by producing evidencebased solutions to current social problems, sharing best practice and by supporting young people to
shape decision making. IARS is an international expert in restorative justice, human rights and
inclusion, citizenship and user-led research.

IARS vision is a society where everyone is given a choice to actively participate in social problem
solving. The organisation is known for its robust, independent evidence-based approach to solving
current social problems, and is considered to be a pioneer in user-involvement and the application of
user-led research methods. IARS delivers its charitable mission:

By carrying out action research and evaluation that is independent, credible, focused and current
By acting as a network that brings people and ideas together, communicates best practice and
encourages debates on current social problems
By supporting the individual (with an emphasis on young people) to carry out their own initiatives
to shape decision-making
By being an authoritative, independent and evidence-based voice on current social policy matters

To continue making a contribution to disadvantaged peoples lives, we need the support of likeminded
individual like you. Your generosity will make a huge difference to vulnerable members of our society by
allowing us to continue our work. Join us today by emailing contact@iars.org.uk
Our membership benefit package includes the following benefits for you and your employees:

Up to 10% discount to our CPD training events and our Annual Restorative
Justice Expert Seminars
Up to 10% discount to our CPD online training courses
10% discount to our Annual Conference
10% discount to all our hard copy books and publications including Youth Voice Journal
1 hard copy per annum of our bi-annual peer-review Youth Voice Journal (RRP 9.99 per issue)
Free Advertisement of events and vacancies in our monthly newsletter
Priority tickets to our free events
Membership to our Policy Response Group and participation to consultation responses
Membership to the Restorative Justice Research Network
1 hard copy of our annual impact report.
25% discount of advertising space on our hard and soft copy publications.

Membership Packages

Individuals: 35 per year

Organizations: Up to 10 paid staff 45; 11-20 paid staff 70;
21-50 paid staff 100; 50+ paid staff 150

8
IARS Publications Restorative Justice Series

9
A Victim-led Criminal Justice System: Addressing the Paradox

IARS Publications
IARS Publications is a branch of IARS, which acts as an independent, small publisher
specialising in social science books and research studies. All our publications are peer reviewed
by our international Editorial Board.
Authors who want to publish with IARS should submit an initial inquiry to the Editor-in-Chief Dr.
Theo Gavrielides T.Gavrielides@iars.org.uk IARS Publications adhere to the Code of Conduct for
Journal Editors.
To order please email contact@iars.org.uk or visit our online Book Store:

http://iars.org.uk/content/IARSpublications
IARS member are entitled to a 10% discount on all publications. To find out how to become a
member please see the information on page 257 or go to the IARS website:

http://www.iars.org.uk/content/join-us-member
By buying our publications you support the charity as every pound we receive is re-invested into
our programmes. We are a registered charity and all our services are NOT for profit making.
Postage is based on Royal Mail prices
IARS strives for and guarantees 100% customer satisfaction. We take great care to describe
accurately the bibliographic details, condition and authenticity of what we sell. In the unlikely
event that there has been an error in any of these areas, we will be happy to provide a full refund
of the cost of purchase on return of the item. Please see below for further details of sales
policies, including our return policy.
All prices are net. As a charity, we are not registered for VAT and all our services are not for
profit. Prepayment is required except for bona fide buyers.

10
IARS Publications Restorative Justice Series

11
A Victim-led Criminal Justice System: Addressing the Paradox

IARS Restorative Justice Training Programmes

IARS has a history of delivering high quality face to face and online training packages to
individuals and organisations. We have supported several organisations including public
services, third sector organisations and policy bodies in our three areas of expertise: Justice Equalities - Young People. We have also helped them introduce a user-led element into their
way of thinking, research and policy work. IARS is a CPD training provider and all our courses
and events are accredited with CPD points.
IARS is offering bespoke training packages that suit to organisations; if you would like to request
more information please contact us at contact@iars.org.uk. Our members receive a special discount
of 10% to all our training packages. If you are not member and you want to join see the information
on page 265.

Victims Rights and Restorative Justice

Having being piloted 21 times in five different countries with over 1,131 individuals and 383
organisations, the Victims Rights and Restorative Justice Training Programme has been developed
to equip restorative justice professionals with the tools and knowledge that they need to conform
with the new Victims Directive focusing on its restorative justice requirements. It will also increase
their knowledge on how to treat and interact with victims. The training programme is certified (20
CPD points), and it is the output of the two year EU funded project Restorative Justice in Europe:
Safeguarding Victims And Empowering Professionals(RJE), that aims to facilitate the
implementation of the EU Victims Directive 2012/29/EU establishing minimum standards on the
rights, support and protection of victims of crime.
The training programme is also available as an e- course and can be accessed at

http://www.rj4all.info/ content/RJE-etraining
Free e- course for Victims of crime: Asserting your rights
The course aims to empower victims by increasing their knowledge of their rights in the criminal
justice and restorative justice process as these are protected EC Victims Directive due to come into
force in November 2015. According to the EU the goal of the new Directive is to improve the real, dayto-day situation of millions of victims of crime across Europe to the greatest extent possible. IARS is
responding to this Call through the release of this e-training course. This includes information on
victims rights, support and protection. The training programme can be undertaken by victims of any
crime, based in the UK, Europe and internationally. The course is the output of the two year EU funded
project Restorative Justice in Europe: Safeguarding Victims and Empowering Professionals.
To access the training course please visit http://www.rj4all.info/content/victimscourse
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IARS Publications Restorative Justice Series

Thank you for your active

engagement with the Ministry of
Justice in progressing this important
project that will help inform future
restorative justice policy. Gaining the
insight of victims, offenders and
practitioners will be important in
considering how restorative justice practice
can be made more effective for the public
UK Ministry of Justice
Following fierce campaigning by victims groups, the
international community has entered into a debate
that aims to move the victim from the margins to the
centre of the criminal justice system. For the first time,
restorative justice is explicitly regulated at EU legal level, as a
new Victims Directive aims to establish a baseline for its safe
implementation across member states. This ground-breaking and
timely edited collection aims to contribute to this international
debate.
The book aims to challenge current thinking while highlighting good practices
that respect and safeguard victims in justice processes. The book uses a
combination of theoretical and empirical analysis while utilising original research
data collected by the Restorative Justice in Europe project. Leading experts take bold
steps in advancing the debate for a victim-led criminal justice system. The book also aims to
give voice to victims directly by involving them as authors of its chapters/ case studies and as
research participants. The book also includes sample training material, best practice and
guidelines created by the RJE project through the contribution of victims, offenders and experts from
across Europe.
The Restorative Justice in Europe Programme is co-financed by the European Commission
(EC Grant Agreement JUST/2011-2012/JPEN/AG/2951).
This book brings together the key finding from the RJE project that we have co-financed. While it
summarises the extant literature, it also provides new evidence on effective practice and key
recommendations for the improvement of our criminal justice and restorative justice processes
I commend the RJE project and the authors for including victims voices in the
construction of their scientific and practical results Olivier Tell, Head of
Procedural Criminal Law, Directorate-General Justice, European Commission.
Governments around the world should open a debate about what is the
most important for victims in the justice process Victim of crime and
RJE participant participant.

Funded by the Criminal Justice

Programme of the European Union

IARS is a leading, international think-tank with a

charitable mission to give everyone a chance to forge
a safer, fairer and more inclusive society.

RRP: 9.99