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RESTORATIVE JUSTICE RELATED RESEARCH AT THE LEUVEN INSTITUTE OF CRIMINOLOGY

2000 - 2012

Research Line ‘Restorative Justice’ - June 2012 -

KATHOLIEKE

UNIVERSITEIT

LEUVEN

Restorative Justice related research 2000-2012 - 1

Introduction

Within the Leuven Institute of Criminology (LINC), research is organised around 10 research lines. One of

these is the ‘Restorative justice’ research line, grouping more than 20 researchers doing different types of

research on various aspects of restorative justice. This is done in close cooperation with some other

research lines, such as ‘Youth criminology, ‘Offenders, sentencing and penal measures’, ‘Victims and victim

policies’, ‘Political crimes, human rights and human security’ and ‘Organised crime, drugs and terrorism’.

The interest of Leuven criminologists for restorative justice stems from the late 1980s, when research

on juvenile delinquency and on the needs of victims and their position in criminal justice procedures guided

them into a new and innovative direction. From the early 1990s, various action oriented research projects

were set up, focusing on new intervention models such as victim-offender mediation for serious crimes,

family group conferences and restorative justice in prisons. Later, doctoral research projects dealt with

restorative justice related issues. Moreover, members of the Leuven group took the lead in establishing

international organisations and networks in this domain, including the European Forum for Restorative

Justice and the international Network for Research on Restorative Justice.

A number of restorative justice research projects within LINC is explicitly practice and policy oriented, at

a national or international level. Other projects focus on more fundamental and theoretical questions.

However, special attention is always paid to the interrelation between restorative justice theory and practice.

Through empirical research and direct participation, the field of restorative justice not only offers a particular

fertile soil for the cross-fertilisation of theory and practice, but also provides, via a process of ongoing

redefinition of crime and its responses, unique opportunities for criminological research from an

interdisciplinary perspective.

The research conducted by the members of the research line Restorative Justice focuses on the

following domains and topics:

1. Restorative justice policies and regulation

i. Relation to criminal justice

ii. Legislation

iii. Policies at national and local level (implementation, organisation, function mediators

or facilitators, …)

iv. International policies and cooperation

2. Restorative justice practices

i. Restorative justice models

ii. Restorative justice fields of application

3. Psycho-social dynamics in restorative justice

i. Processes

ii. Effects

iii. Role of emotions

4. Restorative justice and society

5. Socio-ethical and legal-theoretical foundations of restorative justice

The current and recently concluded research projects of the research line are briefly presented on the

following pages (subsection A), as are the projects that members of the research line were involved in as

coordinators (subsection B). Furthermore, Restorative Justice: An International Journal is presented. This

scientific and international journal was launched on the initiative of the research line (subsection C).


Table of contents

Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................................ 1

Table of contents ................................................................................................................................................................ 2

Members of the Restorative justice research line .............................................................................................................. 4

Published books on restorative justice by Linc members (since 2000) ............................................................................ 11

Research topics and projects ............................................................................................................................................ 13

Overview of completed and ongoing projects.................................................................................................................. 13

A. RESEARCH PROJECTS ................................................................................................................................................ 14

1. RESTORATIVE JUSTICE POLICIES AND REGULATION ...............................................................................................14

Meeting the challenges of introducing victim-offender mediation in Central and Eastern Europe................................. 14

Restorative justice: an agenda for Europe – Part 1. Meeting the challenges of introducing restorative justice in

Southern Europe ............................................................................................................................................................... 15

Restorative Justice: an agenda for Europe - Part 2. European Union policies and regulation ......................................... 16

Promoting the practice of victim-offender mediation - Turkey ....................................................................................... 17

Restorative Justice vs Juvenile Delinquency: The Baltic States in European Dimension .................................................. 18

Working towards the creation of European training models for practitioners and legal practitioners in relation to

restorative justice practices .............................................................................................................................................. 19

Victim-offender mediation with juvenile offenders in Europe ......................................................................................... 20

2. RESTORATIVE JUSTICE PRACTICES ..........................................................................................................................21

Conferencing: a way forward for restorative justice in Europe ........................................................................................ 21

Conferencing for serious juvenile delinquency ................................................................................................................ 23

Implementing Peacemaking Circles in Europe ................................................................................................................. 25

Developing standards for assistance to victims of terrorism ........................................................................................... 26

Linkedness in schools ........................................................................................................................................................ 27

Family Group Conferences in schools ............................................................................................................................... 29

Mediation at police level .................................................................................................................................................. 30

Restorative Justice in prison (Project Herstelgerichte Detentie) ...................................................................................... 31

Mediation and Restorative Justice in prison settings ....................................................................................................... 33

Mass victimization and restorative justice. In search for the possibilities to apply restorative justice principles in the

context of dealing with the past. Case Study South Africa ............................................................................................... 34

Mass victimization and restorative justice. In search of the position of restorative justice in an integrated approach to

mass victimization in post-conflict situations. Case studies in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia ...................................... 35


Mass Victimization and Restorative Justice in Colombia: Pathways towards Peace and Reconciliation? ....................... 36

Mediation and community oriented measures in cases of hate crime and discrimination ............................................. 37

Training in International Family Mediation ...................................................................................................................... 38

3. PSYCHO-SOCIAL DYNAMICS IN RESTORATIVE JUSTICE ...........................................................................................39

Perceptions of justice and fairness in criminal proceedings and restorative encounters: Extending theories of

procedural justice ............................................................................................................................................................. 39

Victim-offender mediation and victim’s restoration. A victimological study in the context of restorative justice .......... 40

Desistance from crime: cognitive processes at work in spontaneous adult desistance, with special attention to the

effects of restorative justice principles ............................................................................................................................. 42

Restorative justice and crime prevention ......................................................................................................................... 44

Victims and restorative justice: an empirical study of the needs, experiences and position of victims within restorative

justice practices ................................................................................................................................................................ 45

4. RESTORATIVE JUSTICE AND SOCIETY ......................................................................................................................46

Building social support for restorative justice .................................................................................................................. 46

Art for Social Change: Exploring Justice through New Media Documentary .................................................................... 47

Perceptions of security and justice: Gender and cultural aspects .................................................................................... 48

5. SOCIO-ETHICAL AND LEGAL-THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS OF RESTORATIVE JUSTICE ............................................49

The development of a theoretical frame for ‘restorative justice’ from an ethical and social perspective ...................... 49

Punishment and sentencing in a constitutional democracy ............................................................................................. 51

Impossible but necessary: A study on the ethics of restorative justice ............................................................................ 53

FP7 - `ALTERNATIVE` - `Developing alternative understandings of security and justice through restorative justice

approaches in intercultural settings within democratic societies` ................................................................................... 54

Work package 3 – ’Research on models of restorative justice and their relevance in intercultural conflicts’ ................. 54

B. RESEARCH COORDINATION ...................................................................................................................................... 56

FP7 - `ALTERNATIVE` - `Developing alternative understandings of security and justice through restorative justice

approaches in intercultural settings within democratic societies` ................................................................................... 56

COST Action A21: ‘Restorative Justice Developments in Europe’ .................................................................................... 58

C. RESTORATIVE JUSTICE: AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL ............................................................................................ 60


Members of the Restorative justice research line

Ivo Aertsen (co-ordinator)

Ivo Aertsen is a professor at the Leuven Institute of Criminology. He holds degrees of psychology and law

from the same university. His main fields of research and teaching are Victimology, Penology and

Restorative Justice. His PhD thesis (2001) focused on the relation of victim-offender mediation to criminal

justice. Dr. Aertsen has been chair of the European Forum for Restorative Justice from 2000-2004, and has

co-ordinated COST Action A21 on Restorative Justice research in Europe from 2002-2006. He is Editorial

Board member of several journals and is involved in various practice and policy oriented partnerships. He

has acted as expert for the U.N., the Council of Europe, the OSCE and the European Union. He is closely

involved with the Secretariat of the European Forum in Leuven and is offering support to the various

research projects run by the Forum.

More information: http://www.law.kuleuven.be/linc/english/staff/ivoaertsen.html

An Adriaenssen

An Adriaenssen has a master’s degree both in criminology and communication sciences, obtained at the

Catholic University of Leuven in 2008 and 2010 respectively. In 2010 she started working as a teaching

assistant at the Leuven Institute of Criminology. Besides her educational tasks she is interested in the effects

of the mass media on public perceptions on crime and punishment and in 2012 she will start working on a

PhD in this field.

More information: http://www.law.kuleuven.be/linc/english/staff/anadriaenssen.html

Daniela Bolivar

Daniela Bolivar is a researcher at the Leuven Institute of Criminology. Her PhD focused on the role of victim-

offender mediation in victims’ processes of restoration. Daniela holds degrees in Psychology and

Community-Psychology from the Catholic University of Chile and worked during eight years as a practitioner

of victims support services. In addition, she gave lectures on the topic of victimology at Catholic University of

Chile and the University of Valparaiso. Daniela is currently the coordinator of the research project on victims

and restorative justice, European Forum for Restorative Justice.

More information: http://www.law.kuleuven.be/linc/english/staff/danielabolivar.html

Isabella Bueno

Isabella Bueno is a researcher at the Leuven Institute of Criminology. She obtained a master in International

Law at the University of Sorbonne in 2003. Since 2008 she is working on a research project on Mass

Victimization and Restorative Justice in Colombia. The aim of this research project is to deepen our

understanding with regard to the applicability of restorative justice principles in a transitional justice context

of ongoing conflict.

More information: http://www.law.kuleuven.be/linc/english/staff/isabellabueno.html


Johan Deklerck

Johan Deklerck is as doctor in criminology related to the Academic Teacher Training, Behavioral and Social

Sciences, KU Leuven. He has built a research expertise around the themes: fundamental criminological

theory, prevention and safety, juvenile delinquency, restorative justice, mediation and problem behavior in

school education. He realized around here a long series of national and international studies, publications

and lectures. Currently he focuses on problem behavior and education and recovery from serious crimes. He

is a frequent speaker at home and abroad. He is further connected to the Master of Mediation, Université du

Luxembourg.

More information: http://www.law.kuleuven.be/linc/english/staff/johandeklerck.html

Davy Dhondt

Davy Dhondt is a researcher at the Leuven Institute of Criminology. He obtained a master in Criminology at

the University Leuven in 2006. Next to working at Suggnomè vzw as a victim-offender mediator from 2006, in

2011 he returned to the University of Leuven to work on a research project on the implementation of

peacemaking circles in Europe.

More information: http://www.law.kuleuven.be/linc/english/staff/davydhondt.html

Vicky De Mesmaecker

Vicky De Mesmaecker is a researcher at the Leuven Institute of Criminology. She obtained a master in

Criminology (2006), a master in International Relations and Conflict Management (2007) and a PhD (2011)

at the University of Leuven. With her PhD, entitled “Perceptions of justice and fairness in criminal

proceedings and restorative encounters: extending theories of procedural justice”, she investigated victims’

and offenders’ experiences with the criminal justice system and restorative interventions and the notions of

procedural fairness and punishment. She currently works on the project “Art for Social Change: Exploring

Justice through New Media Documentary”.

More information: http://www.law.kuleuven.be/linc/english/staff/vickydemesmaecker.html

Johan Goethals

Prof. dr. J. Goethals obtained degrees in Psychology (1972) and Criminology (1974) at the Catholic

University of Leuven. His doctoral dissertation (1979) concerned the psychological effects of imprisonment.

Prof. Goethals has been teaching methodology of criminological research, penology and criminological

psychology at the Catholic University of Leuven. He also taught at several police academies. At LINC, Prof.

Goethals has been the coordinator of the research line ‘Offenders, sentencing and penal measures’. His

research concerns the topics of imprisonment, recidivism, internment, measurement of feelings of (un)safety,

sentencing, sexual delinquency and fear of crime. Prof. Goethals has served as an expert to a parliamentary

committee on harmful sectarian organisations and several other advisory committees and working groups,

such as the High Council for Prison Policy and the Ministerial working group on Internment. He is an acting

member of the Center for Information and Advice regarding Harmful Sectarian Organisations.

More information: http://www.law.kuleuven.be/linc/english/staff/johangoethals.html


David Gustafson

Dave Gustafson is Co-Director of Fraser Region Community Justice Initiatives Association (CJI) in Langley,

British Columbia, Canada. Considered one of Canada’s pioneering and pre-eminent agencies, CJI’s

restorative program models run the spectrum from Educating for Peacebuilding in schools to prison based

programmes dealing with the most serious offenses in the Criminal Code. Since its inception in 1990, Dave

has overseen the development of the latter, the Victim Offender Mediation Programme (VOMP), a

therapeutically informed model designed for use in crimes of severe violence. Dave is currently working on

completing his doctorate at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. His dissertation, entitled “Encountering ‘The

Other’: Victim Offender Dialogue in Serious Crime”, involves a case-study approach, with a particular view to

analysing “What is going on?” in programme processes. Dave is also Adjunct Professor in the School of

Criminology at Simon Fraser University, and a psychotherapist in private practice.

More information: http://www.cjibc.org/index.html

Frank Hutsebaut

Frank Hutsebaut is a professor at the Leuven Institute of Criminology. He obtained a PhD degree (1980) in

law on The role of experts in the criminal justice system. His main fields of research and teaching are

criminal law, criminal procedure, police studies, private safety and security and victim assistance. He

published several articles and has given many lectures on victim assistance by the police. During three years

he has been the President of the Belgian National Forum for Victim Policy. He is an Editorial Board member

of several journals. Since June 2009 he is appointed by the Flemish government as Special Commissioner

for victim assistance for victims of road traffic

More information: http://www.law.kuleuven.be/linc/english/staff/frankhutsebaut.html

Niall Kearney

Niall Kearney has a Masters in Social Work from Edinburgh University. He is a trained mediator and qualified

mediation assessor to Scottish Vocational Standards. He is the current Chair of the European Forum for

Restorative Justice (2009 - 2012) and supports the Forum's various activities including research projects

available at www.euforumrj.org/Projects/projects.htm Niall has co-authored a number of articles on

restorative justice including: "Restorative Justice in Scotland, an Overview", available at:

http://www.sacro.org.uk/RJScotlandFinal_mar07.pdf". He is currently employed by the UK Ministry of Justice

as Head of the Customer Service Centre at the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority.

More information: http://www.euforumrj.org/About/structure.board.htm

Katrien Lauwaert

Katrien Lauwaert studied law and criminology at the Catholic University of Leuven, l’Université Catholique de

Louvain (Louvain-la Neuve), the Rijksuniversiteit Leiden and the American University (Washington D.C.).

She worked as an assistant and researcher at the Leuven Institute for Criminology from 1995 to 1999. In

1999 she moved to the Faculty of Law of the University of Maastricht where she was a lecturer in criminology

and criminal procedure and obtained her PhD, which explored procedural guarantees in restorative justice.

In 2008 she became a lecturer at the Ecole de Criminologie of the Université de Liège, where she teaches


restorative justice, victimology and criminological perspectives on juvenile delinquency. Her research has

focused mainly on restorative justice, victimological issues and community sanctions. Katrien Lauwaert is

chair of the non-profit organisation Suggnomè, which organises victim-offender mediation for adult offenders

and their victims in Flanders and Brussels, and was actively involved in the creation of the European Forum

for Restorative Justice. She is also a member of the board of the European Forum for Restorative Justice

and editorial board member of the journals 'Panopticon' and 'Tijdschrift voor Herstelrecht'.

More information: http://www.law.kuleuven.be/linc/english/staff/katrienlauwaert.html

Karolien Mariën

Karolien Mariën studied criminology at the Catholic University of Leuven. She has worked as a restorative

justice adviser in a Belgian prison. After that she worked for the central psycho-social service: a service

within the Belgian Ministry of Justice that supports and assists the people working with prisoners on the

preparation of their reintegration in community. Since 2009 she is the executive officer of the European

Forum for Restorative Justice.

More information: ▪ http://www.law.kuleuven.be/linc/english/staff/karolienmarien.html

▪ www.euforumrj.org

Katrien Mestdagh

Katrien Mestdagh obtained a Master degree in Criminology (2005) at the KU Leuven and a Master degree in

Sociology of Law (2008) at the International Institute for Sociology of Law in O�ati (Spain). At De Rode

Antraciet vzw, Katrien Mestdagh has been working in victim awareness programs for offenders in Flemish

prisons for 5 years. Katrien is also part-time teaching assistant at LINC. Besides her teaching and coaching

activities, she has published and has given lectures about the potential of restorative justice inside prisons.

More information: http://www.law.kuleuven.be/linc/english/staff/katrienmestdagh.html

Brunilda Pali

Brunilda Pali is a researcher and a PhD candidate at the Leuven Institute of Criminology (LINC). She has

been working for two years in the European Forum for Restorative Justice on a project on building social

support for restorative justice, which investigated ways to work with the media, civil society and citizens in

the area of restorative justice. Subsequently she worked in LINC on a project on family mediation in cases of

international child abduction, which aimed at creating a European training for family mediators and trainers.

She is currently doing a PhD on ethics and restorative justice, as part of the research team for the project

ALTERNATIVE (“Developing alternative understandings of security and justice through restorative justice

approaches in intercultural settings within democratic societies”), granted to LINC by the European

Commission in the context of the 7th Framework Programme. Brunilda has studied Psychology in the

University of Bosphorus in Istanbul, Gender Studies in the Central European University in Budapest and

Cultural Studies in Bilgi University in Istanbul. Before coming to Leuven, she has lectured at the University of

New York in Tirana and worked in the Albanian Foundation for Conflict Resolution. Her main research areas

and interests are gender, restorative justice, psychoanalysis, social justice, and critical theory.

More information: ▪ http://www.law.kuleuven.be/linc/english/staff/brunildapali.html


Stephan Parmentier

Stephan Parmentier studied law, political science and sociology at the K.U.Leuven (Belgium), and sociology

and conflict resolution at the Humphrey Institute for Public Affairs of the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities

(U.S.A.). He currently teaches sociology of crime, law and human rights at the Faculty of Law of the

K.U.Leuven, and served as the Head of its Department of Criminal Law and Criminology (2005-2009). Stephan

Parmentier has served as an advisor to the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture, the Belgian

Minister of the Interior, the King Baudouin Foundation, and Amnesty International. Between 1999-2002 he was

the vice-chairman of the Flemish section of Amnesty International. His research interests include political

crimes, transitional justice and human rights, and the administration of criminal justice.

More information: http://www.law.kuleuven.be/linc/english/staff/stephanparmentier.html

Tony Peters (†)

Tony Peters was Emeritus Professor at the Catholic University of Leuven. He held a Ph.D. in Criminology

(1976), a Licentiate in Social Sciences (1965) and a Licentiate in Criminology (1969). Professor Peters has

taught at the Catholic University of Leuven in the domains of general criminology, victimology, penology and

criminal policy. His research and publications covered several fields of criminology: corrections, sentencing

and community sanctions (1970-1985); victimology and victimisation in relation with violent crime (1986-

1993); victim-offender mediation, restorative justice, corrections and restorative justice (1993-2000). Tony

Peters has been Visiting professor at the universities of Montréal, Edinburgh, San Sebastian, Las Palmas

and Porto. He was the former director of the M.A. in European Criminology at the Catholic University of

Leuven (1997-2004) and was President of the Scientific Commission of the International Society of

Criminology (1998-2003). In March 2009, he received the degree of Doctor Honoris Causa from the Basque

University (Universidad del Pais Vasco) in Spain. Dr. Peters has been the President of the International

Society of Criminology from 2006 to 2010. Dr. Peters passed away in March 2012.

Edit Törzs

Edit Törzs studied law at the ELTE University Budapest, Hungary, where she later finished the PhD program

in the field of Criminology. She also has a degree in European and French Law from Université Panthéon-

Assas, Paris. From 2004 she worked for the Hungarian Office of Justice, on the Methodological Department

of the Probation Service, and from 2006 was responsible for the field of victim-offender mediation. She`s a

trained mediator and facilitator of restorative conferences. From 2012 she works for the European Forum for

Restorative Justice and responsible for research and dissemination tasks within the FP7 - `ALTERNATIVE`

project.

More information: http://www.law.kuleuven.be/linc/english/staff/edittorzs.html

Birgit Vanderstraeten

Birgit Vanderstraeten is a PhD-researcher at the Leuven Institute of Criminology since September 2011. She

obtained a bachelor degree in law practice (Hogeschool Gent) and a master degree in criminology (Catholic

University Leuven). During 7 months, she worked as a researcher for the National Institute of Criminal

sciences and Criminology (NICC), federal Ministry of Justice in Belgium, on the evaluation of the National

Forum for Victim Policy.


More information: http://www.law.kuleuven.be/linc/english/staff/birgitvanderstraeten.html

Inge Vanfraechem

Dr. Inge Vanfraechem is project manager of the FP7 project ALTERNATIVE, where she is responsible for

the day-to-day management as well as the comparative research. She has previously worked as a

researcher on a project of the European Forum for Restorative Justice (funded by the European

Commission) with regard to 'Victims and restorative justice'. Before that, she worked as a researcher at the

National Institute of Criminal Sciences and Criminology, federal Ministry of Justice in Belgium, on the

evaluation of victim policy in Belgium (2007-2010). Her main research interests include victimology,

restorative justice and youth delinquency. Inge Vanfraechem obtained her PhD in Criminology at the Catholic

University of Leuven on the topic of Family group conferencing for serious youth delinquency (June 2006).

She has been the vice-chair of the European Forum for Restorative Justice (2006-2011), after having been

the chair of its Research Committee (2000-2006), and a founding member (2000). She is a member of the

Editorial Board of the Flemish-Dutch Journal of Restorative Justice.

More information: http://www.law.kuleuven.be/linc/english/staff/ingevanfraechem.html

Leo Van Garsse

Leo Van Garsse obtained his Master in pedagogy at the Catholic University of Leuven in 1981. He worked

as a social worker in prison after-care (1979 -1982) and in a half-way house for young offenders (1982-

1987). Since 1987 he is actively involved in the practice and the implementation of several applications of

victim-offender mediation in Flanders. From 1998 on he was employed by “Suggnomè, Forum for Mediation

and Restorative Justice”, an umbrella-organisation for the promotion of Restorative Justice in Flanders. Leo

Van Garsse was closely involved in the preparation of a draft of a law on victim-offender mediation, finally

approved in Belgian parliament in 2005. Currently, Leo Van Garsse is connected to the Ghent University,

Department of social welfare studies, where he’s working on a research on the developments in the field of

‘forensic social work’ in Flanders. He is also connected to the University of Leuven as affiliated researcher

within LINC.

More information: http://www.law.kuleuven.be/linc/english/staff/leovangarsse.html

Lode Walgrave

Lode Walgrave is Emeritus Professor in Criminology at the K.U.Leuven (Belgium), where he taught Youth

Criminology and Theoretical Criminology. He has been a founding member and chair of the International

Network for Research on Restorative Justice and of the International Association for Criminology of Youth.

Lode Walgrave has given guest lectures and conferences in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, New Zealand,

Peru, South Africa, U.S.A., and in most European countries. He published around 250 articles or book

chapters, more than 40 research reports, and 19 books (9 as editor) in Dutch, his mother tongue, in English

and French. Translations are made in German, Portuguese, Russian, Korean and Chinese. His recent book

Walgrave, L. (2008), Restorative Justice, Self-Interest and responsible Citizenship, Cullompton: Willan

Publishing, can be considered the culmination of his vision for restorative justice. In 2008, Lode Walgrave

received the ESC European Criminology Award.

More information: http://www.law.kuleuven.be/linc/english/staff/lodewalgrave.html


Xiaoyu Yuan

Xiaoyu Yuan is a pre-doctoral student at the Leuven Institute of Criminology. She obtained a master’s

degree in criminal law (2011) at China University of Political Science and Law. Since October 2011 she has

been preparing for a doctoral project which deals with victim-offender mediation in China.

More information: http://www.law.kuleuven.be/linc/english/staff/xiaoyuyuan.html

Estelle Zinsstag

Estelle Zinsstag is currently a senior research affiliate at LINC – KU Leuven, where she participates to the

activities of both the restorative justice and the transitional justice research lines. Among other activities she

has undertaken in this capacity, she is working towards the launching of an academic journal exclusively

dedicated to restorative justice and publishing in the fields of sexual violence against women, transitional

justice and restorative justice. Recently she has been a research officer and project leader at the European

Forum for Restorative Justice, where she worked on a project funded by the European Commission entitled

‘Conferencing: a way forward for restorative justice in Europe’. In recent years she completed a PhD at the

School of Law, Queen’s University Belfast (UK). She also graduated from the University of Edinburgh (UK)

with an MSc in politics and from the Université Paul Valéry, Montpellier III (France) with a maitrise in British

history and literature. She has held positions as research assistant in the school of politics and as teaching

assistant both at undergraduate and postgraduate levels at the school of law, Queen’s University Belfast.

She has done voluntary work among other for Amnesty International, UK and Zentrum für Integrative

Psychiatrie, Germany.

More information: http://www.law.kuleuven.be/linc/english/staff/estellezinsstag.html


Published books on restorative justice by Linc members (since 2000)

Aertsen, I., Arsovska, J., Rohne, H.-G., Valiñas, M. and Vanspauwen, K. (Eds.) (2008). Restoring justice

after large-scale violent conflicts: Kosovo, DR Congo and the Israeli-Palestinan case. Cullompton: Willan

Publishing.

Aertsen, I. (2004). Slachtoffer-daderbemiddeling: een onderzoek naar de ontwikkeling van een

herstelgerichte strafrechtsbedeling. Leuven: Leuven University Press.

Aertsen, I., Mackay, R., Pelikan, C., Willemsens, J. and Wright, M. (2004). Rebuilding Community

Connections – Mediation and restorative justice in Europe. Strasbourg: Council of Europe Publishing.

French translation: Aertsen, I., Mackay, R., Pelikan, C., Willemsens, J. and Wright, M. (2004). Renouer

les liens sociaux – Médiation et justice réparatrice en Europe. Strasbourg : Editions du Conseil de

l’Europe.

Aertsen, I., Daems, T. and Robert, L. (eds.) (2006). Institutionalizing Restorative Justice. Cullompton: Willan

Publishing.

Achutti, D. (2009). Modelos Contemporâneos de Justiça Criminal. Justiça terapêutica, instantânea e

restaurativa. Porto Alegre: Livraria do Advogado.

Claes, E., Foqué, R. and Peters, T. (eds.) (2005). Punishment, Restorative Justice and the Morality of Law.

Antwerpen: Intersentia.

Claes, E., Deklerck, J., Marchal, A. and Put, J. (eds.) (2008). Herstel en jeugd: nu in het (r)echt. Brugge: Die

Keure.

De Feyter, K., Parmentier, S., Bossuyt, M. and Lemmens, P. (eds.) (2005). Out of the ashes: reparation for

victims of gross and systematic human rights violations. Antwerpen: Intersentia.

Dupont, L. and Hutsebaut, F. (eds.) (2001). Herstelrecht tussen toekomst en verleden. Liber Amicorum Tony

Peters. Leuven: Leuven University Press.

European Forum for Victim-Offender Mediation and Restorative Justice (ed.) (2000). Victim-Offender

Mediation in Europe. Making Restorative Justice Work. Leuven: Leuven University Press.

Fattah, E. and Parmentier, S. (eds.) (2001). Victim Policies and Criminal Justice on the Road to Restorative

Justice. A collection of essays in honour of Tony Peters. Leuven: Leuven University Press.

Glazewski, J., van der Spuy, E., Parmentier, S. and Dissel, A. (2007). Restorative justice: politics, policies

and prospects. Cape Town: Juta.

Lauwaert, K. (2009). Herstelrecht en procedurele waarborgen. Antwerpen: Maklu.

Lemonne, A., Vanfraechem, I. and Vanneste, C. (2008). Onderzoeksproject met betrekking tot de evaluatie

van de voorzieningen ten behoeve van slachtoffers van inbreuken. Brussel: Nationaal Instituut voor

Criminalistiek en Criminologie.

Letschert, R., Staiger, I. and Pemberton, A. (2010). Assisting victims of terrorism. Towards a European

standard of justice. New York: Springer.

Mackay, R., Bošnjak, M., Deklerck, J., Pelikan, C., van Stokkom, B. and Wright, M. (eds.) (2007). Images of

restorative justice theory. Frankfurt am Main: Verlag für Polizeiwissenschaft.


Miers, D. and Aertsen, I. (eds.) (2012). Regulating Restorative Justice. A comparative analysis of legal

provisions in European countries. Frankfurt am Main: Verlag für Polizeiwissenschaft.

Miers, D. and Willemsens, J. (eds.) (2004). Mapping Restorative Justice – Developments in 25 European

Countries. Leuven: European Forum for Victim-Offender Offender Mediation and Restorative Justice.

Vanacker, J. (ed.) (2002), Herstel en detentie. Hommage aan Prof. Dr. Tony Peters. Brussel: Politeia.

Van Camp, T., Van Win, T., Aertsen, I., Daeninck, Ph., Hodiaumont, F. and Malempré, H. (Promotors

Parmentier, S., Peters, T. and Kellens, G.) (2004). Vademecum herstelrecht en gevangenis. Gent:

Academia Press.

French translation: Hodiaumaont, F., Malempré, H., Aertsen, I., Daeninck Ph., Van Camp, T. and Van

Win, T. (Direction: Parmentier, S., Peters, T. and Kellens, G.) (2004). Vade-mecum justice réparatrice

en prison. Gent: Academia Press.

Vanfraechem, I. (2006). Herstelgericht groepsoverleg. Brugge: die keure.

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a European context, Den Haag: Eleven International Publishing.

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Walgrave, L. (ed.) (2002). Restorative Justice and the Law. Cullompton: Willan Publishing.

Walgrave, L. (ed.) (2003). Repositioning Restorative Justice. Cullompton: Willan Publishing.

Walgrave, L. (2008). Restorative justice, self-interest and responsible citizenship. Cullompton: Willan

Publishing.

Walgrave, L. and Vettenburg, N. (2006). Herstelgericht groepsoverleg. Nieuwe wegen in de aanpak van

jeugddelinquentie en tuchtproblemen. Leuven: Lannoocampus.

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Cullompton: Willan Publishing.

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directions. Cullompton: Willan Publishing.


Research topics and projects

Overview of completed and ongoing projects


A. RESEARCH PROJECTS

1. RESTORATIVE JUSTICE POLICIES AND REGULATION

Meeting the challenges of introducing victim-offender mediation in

Central and Eastern Europe

Project information

• Researcher: Borbala Fellegi

• Supervisor: Ivo Aertsen

• Co-supervisor: Jolien Willemsens

• Period: 1 December 2003 - 30 November 2005

• Funding: AGIS 2003 programme of the European Commission - Directorate General for Justice

and Home Affairs

Description research project

The general objective of the project was to realize an effective support to the development of restorative

justice in Central and Eastern European countries (CEE).

The specific objectives of the project were: (a) to study, at the conceptual and practical level, what the

possibilities are for implementing restorative justice in CEE given their specific political, economical, cultural

and legal background; (b) to discuss how the experience in Western European countries can inform and

support the development of restorative justice in CEE; (c) to prepare strategies for promoting the

development of an integrated policy concerning restorative justice in CEE; (d) to actively work towards

creating dynamics for exchange and co-operation (networking) between CEE in this field; (e) to discuss what

Western European countries can learn from the developments in criminal justice in CEE; (f) to study what

can be learned from the previous points in terms of policy development concerning restorative justice at the

level of the European Union.

This was approached by discussing how the experience in Western European countries could inform and

support the development of restorative justice in CEE countries, by preparing strategies for promoting the

development of an integrated restorative justice policy in CEE, and by creating a dynamic exchange and co-

operation between CEE (networking). But also Western European countries have much to learn from the

options taken in CEE, which was also discussed during the project. During the project two expert meetings

and two seminars for restorative justice practitioners, policy makers, legal practitioners and researchers from

different Western, Central and Eastern European countries were organised.

Relevant publications

- Fellegi, B. (2004). Meeting the Challenges of Introducing Victim-Offender Mediation in Central and

Eastern Europe, Final Report JAI/2003/AGIS/088, Leuven, European Forum for Victim-Offender Mediation

and Restorative Justice v.z.w.


Restorative justice: an agenda for Europe – Part 1. Meeting the

challenges of introducing restorative justice in Southern Europe

Project information

• Researcher: Clara Casado Coronas


• Period: 1 June 2006 - 31 May 2008

• Funding: AGIS 2006 programme of the European Commission Directorate General for Justice,

Freedom and Security


The general objective of the project was to realise an effective support to the development of restorative

justice in the South of Europe. The countries of this European region that were involved in this project are

Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Spain and Turkey.

The specific objectives of the project were: (a) studying, at the legal-conceptual and practical level, the

possibilities for implementing restorative justice in Southern European countries; (b) discussing how the

experience in the rest of Europe could inform and support the development of restorative justice in Southern

Europe; (c) preparing strategies for promoting the development of an integrated policy concerning restorative

justice in Southern Europe; (d) actively working towards creating dynamics for exchange and co-operation

(networking) between Southern European countries in this field; (e) discussing what countries in the rest of

Europe can learn from the developments in criminal justice in Southern Europe.

The introduction of restorative justice and the implementation of practices like victim-offender mediation are

lagging behind in the South of Europe compared to the rest of Europe. Although important steps were taken

in Spain and Italy, and more recently in Portugal, there is a considerable need to intensify the exchange of

knowledge and experiences with the rest of Europe in order to close this gap and make sure that European

citizens have equal or at least similar access to mediation in all of Europe.

Several factors could be at the basis of this asymmetrical development, for example the existing – legalistic –

culture in some Southern countries. The research questions therefore were: What are other factors, and how

can these dealt with? Which are features common to all Southern European countries and which are not?

What kind of strategies need to be devised to promote the development of an integrated policy concerning

restorative justice in Southern Europe? How can networking between Southern European countries in this

field be improved?


- Casado Coronas, C. (2008). Restorative justice: an agenda for Europe. Supporting the implementation of

restorative justice in the South of Europe. Final Report JLS/2006/AGIS/147, Leuven, European Forum for

Victim-Offender Mediation and Restorative Justice v.z.w.


Restorative Justice: an agenda for Europe - Part 2. European Union

policies and regulation

Project information

• Researcher: Jolien Willemsens


• Period: 1 June 2006 - 31 May 2008

• Funding: AGIS 2006 programme of the European Commission Directorate General for Justice,

Freedom and Security


The general objective of the project was to research what could be the potential role of the European

institutions in the further development of restorative justice in the whole of the European Union to identify

whether there is a need for further regulation about restorative justice at the level of the EU.

The specific objectives were: (a) analysing the existing legislation on the national level in all EU Member

States; (b) making an overview of the existing international regulations; (c) exploring the main needs at

national level which could have implications for EU policies; (d) studying whether these needs require

specific regulation or other initiative at the level of the European Union; (e) studying whether there is a legal

basis and whether it is opportune to actually regulate these issues at the level of the European Union; (f)

discussing the concrete forms, instruments and the content of the EU policies that are required.

The instruments in this project were:

• a steering group ‘EU policies’, formed by the project supervisor and representatives of three partner

institutions (Cardiff Law School, Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law,

ERA Academy of European Law). Their main task was to support and evaluate the work of the

researcher. They devised the strategy and methodology of the research and supervised the writing

of the final publication.

• staff: two people were working on this project. Jolien Willemsens was acting as project coordinator

and researcher and Leni Sannen was the project assistant and was in charge of the administrative

tasks ensuing from the project.


- Willemsens, J. (2008). Restorative justice: an agenda for Europe. The role of the European Union in the

further development of restorative justice. Final Report JLS/2006/AGIS/147, Leuven, European Forum

for Victim-Offender Mediation and Restorative Justice v.z.w.


Promoting the practice of victim-offender mediation - Turkey

Project information

• Researcher: Clara Casado Coronas

• Supervisors: Ivo Aertsen, Jolien Willemsens

• Period: 1 September 2006 - 1 February 2008

• Funding: European Commission, European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights.


This project had been introduced by the Istanbul Bilgi University Human Rights Law Research Centre. The

K.U.Leuven participated as a partner.

Objectives

The objective of the Leuven part of the research was to prepare a report on best practices for establishing

victim-offender mediation services in European countries including ethical and professional standards for

mediators, case management and case supervision, internal organisation of staff, evaluation of the service,

etc. Together with the research reports on ‘State of legislation in Turkey’ and ‘Ethnographic research’

conducted by two researchers of Istanbul Bilgi Universtity, it served to develop culture-sensitive victim-

offender mediation training for lawyers and NGO’s in Turkey.

Problem definition

Victim-offender mediation has been introduced in Turkey with the new Criminal Code and the new Code of

Criminal Procedure which came into force on June 2005. While these two codes establish the legal basis for

mediation, the infrastructure that is required for a successful implementation of victim-offender mediation is

not in place. On the one hand, there are no provisions concerning important aspects like the referral

processes or monitoring of the fulfillment of an agreement reached in mediation. In addition no regulation

has been made concerning the training that mediators should follow or their accreditation process. On the

other hand, the prosecutors and the judges themselves are not well informed about victim-offender

mediation and the general public even less.

The EU Council Framework Decision on the standing of victims in criminal proceedings (2001/220/JHA)

obliges all member states “to promote mediation in criminal cases” for appropriate types of offences (Art.

10.1). While Member states had to comply with this decision by March 2006, Turkey will also need to work

on the promotion of mediation in criminal matters in its quest for EU membership.


- Casado Coronas, C. (2008). Promoting the practice of victim-offender mediation in Turkey. Best practices

on how to set up a victim-offender mediation service. Leuven, European Forum for Restorative Justice

v.z.w.


Restorative Justice vs Juvenile Delinquency: The Baltic States in

European Dimension

Project information

• Researcher: Andrejs Judins (Centre for public policy, Providus, Riga), Christa Pelikan (Centre for

the Sociology of Law and Criminology, Vienna)

• Role of the European Forum for Restorative Justice in cooperation with LINC:

- doing the comparative research

- supervise the complete research work

- general research support

• Period: 15 December 2007 - 28 February 2010

• Funding: Criminal Justice programme of the European Commission


The general objective of the project is to promote effective development of RJ as a response to youth crime

in the Baltic States and to enhance mutual knowledge of best practices and initiatives in the field of RJ in this

region and beyond. The project focuses on Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia but nevertheless has a strong

European dimension through its activities.

The activities of the project are:

• Drafting a methodology for the Baltic research and comparative analysis

• Research analysis about RJ approach and instruments vs juvenile delinquency in the Baltic States

• Comparative analysis of RJ developments in the Baltic States with other EU countries and provision

of recommendations for further development strategies

• Publication of research results in Latvian and English

• Informative educational publications on RJ, juvenile delinquency, evaluation of VOM and other

• International conference for dissemination of project results and with an aim to enhance mutual

knowledge and development of cooperation in the field of RJ within the Baltic States and beyond.

• Expert workshop for stakeholders from Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia


- Judins, A., Pelikan, C., Tamma, K. and Uselè, L. (2010). Restorative Justice vs Juvenile Delinquency: The

Baltic States in European Dimension. Riga: PROVIDUS.


Working towards the creation of European training models for

practitioners and legal practitioners in relation to restorative justice

practices

Project information

• Researcher: Jolien Willemsens, Regina Delattre (TOA-Servicebuero, Köln)


• Period: 1 November 2003 - 29 February 2004

• Funding: AGIS 2003 programme of the European Commission Directorate General for Justice and

Home Affairs


In 2003, an AGIS project was awarded to work on two topics: the training of mediation practitioners on the

one hand, and the training of legal practitioners in restorative justice on the other hand.

• Training of mediation practitioners

Thanks to the AGIS project, 11 experienced mediators and trainers from as many European countries could

meet twice in order to exchange information on training. This exchange resulted in: (a) a detailed overview of

the organisation, contents and structure of training programmes in Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic,

England, Finland, France, Germany, Norway, Poland, Scotland and Spain, and (b) recommendations on the

contents and the organisation of training.

• Training of legal practitioners

With the help of the AGIS project of the European Commission, the research project set about developing

training modules for prosecutors and judges on restorative justice. Ten judges, prosecutors and judges from

eight European countries met twice in order to develop a two-day training course for prosecutors and judges.

Three years after the development of the modules, a group of experts met to discuss and evaluate the

training modules for prosecutors and judges.


- Delattre, R. and Willemsens, J. (2004). Working towards the creation of European training models for

practitioners and legal practitioners in relation to restorative justice practices. The development of training

modules for prosecutors and judges, Final Report JAI/2003/AGIS/129, Leuven, European Forum for

Victim-Offender Mediation and Restorative Justice v.z.w.

- Delattre, R. and Willemsens, J. (2004). Working towards the creation of European training models for

practitioners and legal practitioners in relation to restorative justice practices. Exchange of Training

Models for Mediation Practitioners, Final Report JAI/2003/AGIS/129, Leuven, European Forum for Victim-

Offender Mediation and Restorative Justice v.z.w.


Victim-offender mediation with juvenile offenders in Europe

Project information

• Researchers: Inge Vanfraechem, Sabien Declercq

• Supervisors: Inge Vanfraechem, Anna Mestitz (Italy – promoter of the project), Christa Pelikan

(Austria)

• Period: 1 November 2002 - 1 November 2003

• Funding: European Commission, Grotius II Criminal Justice Programme 2002 - 2003


Objective:

To provide a comparative survey on Victim-Offender Mediation (VOM) with juvenile offenders in Europe and

to identify benefits, problems and disadvantages of VOM applications

Research design:

• Common framework for authors of every country (15 countries in total) to collect information on the

following topics:

o Introduction: general overview of VOM practice

o Legislation and legal provisions for the application of VOM

o Organizational structure of VOM centres

o Categories and profiles of juvenile offences

o Models, approaches, and theoretical framework of VOM

o Professional characteristics and job evaluation of mediators

• Research seminar to discuss the results (September 2003) and to distil (dis)advantages.


- Mestitz, A. and Ghetti, S. (eds), Victim-Offender Mediation with Youth Offenders in Europe, Dordrecht:

Springer, 2005.

- Lemonne, A. and Vanfraechem, I., ‘Victim-Offender Mediation for Juveniles in Belgium’, in Mestitz, A. and

Ghetti, S. (eds), Victim-Offender Mediation with Youth Offenders in Europe, Dordrecht: Springer, 2005,

181-209.


2. RESTORATIVE JUSTICE PRACTICES

Conferencing: a way forward for restorative justice in Europe

Project information

• Researchers: Estelle Zinsstag, Marlies Teunkens and Carmen Borg


• Co-supervisor: Inge Vanfraechem

• Period: 26 months (31/12/2008 – 28/02/2011)

• Funding: Criminal Justice 2008 - European Commission – Directorate-General Justice, Freedom

and Security


This two-year project consisted of an exploratory study of conferencing practices, for both adult and young

offenders and for low and high level crimes, and their further applicability within Europe. The researchers,

supported by a steering group composed of both academics and practitioners, focused their work on three

main research questions:

1. To what extent has conferencing been developed internationally?

2. What are the processes used in and outcomes achieved by conferencing, and how do they compare to

victim offender mediation (VOM)?

3. How could conferencing practices be developed further in Europe?

As this was the first study on this specific topic in Europe, the information was gathered not only by

conducting an extensive literature review but also by constructing a survey, conducting interviews and study

visits to assess existing and emerging practices of conferencing. The project also included the organisation

of an expert workshop (September 2010, 60 participants) and the participation in the organisation of an

international conference (June 2010, 300 participants) in order to get feedback on the preliminary results.

The study focused on conferencing practices which are related to crime and assessed their processes as

well as outcomes. Furthermore the study compared conferences with the more widespread VOM. In addition

a detailed bibliography was developed. The last part of the study explicitly focused on the challenges when

implementing conferencing in a continental European legal and socio-cultural context and proposed new

avenues for its further development in a European context.

The research project resulted in a scientific report and a practical guide on setting up conferencing

programmes in Europe. The latter includes information on the different models and the conditions that have

to be met for their successful implementation. Finally an academic publication based on the expert seminar

is also being prepared for Oxford University Press, edited by Zinsstag and Vanfraechem.



- Zinsstag, E., Teunkens, M. & Pali, B. (2011). Conferencing: A way forward for restorative justice in

Europe - Final report of JLS/2008/JPEN/043, Leuven: European Forum for Restorative Justice

(EFRJ).

- Zinsstag, E. & Vanfraechem, I. (2012). Conferencing and restorative justice: challenges,

developments and debates. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

- Shapland, J. et al. (2011) Conferencing: A way forward for restorative justice - A practical guide,

Leuven: EFRJ.

- Special issue on Conferencing of the Newsletter of the European Forum for Restorative Justice

(April 2011), Leuven: EFRJ.


Conferencing for serious juvenile delinquency

Project information

• Researcher: Inge Vanfraechem

• Supervisor: Lode Walgrave

• Period: 1 November 2000 - 31 October 2003 (PhD research 2004-2006)

• Funding: Ministry of Welfare of the Flemish Community


Objective:

A Family Group Conference (‘Herstelgericht Groepsoverleg’ or ‘Hergo’) is a communication between the

offender and his support persons, the victim and his support persons, and (in the New Zealand model) the

police. It offers an added value in the reaction towards crime, and its usability in Belgium was to be

researched. The aim of the research was to evaluate whether conferences work in Flanders, under what

conditions and for whom. The conditions for a qualitative functioning of the project were evaluated through a

thorough process analysis.

Methodology:

The project was an action-research: the researchers were involved in the development of the practice, but at

the same time kept a certain distance towards the practice. Practitioners posed questions and gave

information to the researchers, who could offer feedback on the actual practice.

Different research instruments were developed:

- A scheme for analysing the judicial dossiers.

- An observation scheme, to collect data during the observation of the conference.

- Interviews with victims, offenders and their parents.

- Interviews with youth judges, lawyers and other professionals.

- Regular communication with the facilitators, who fill out a questionnaire on the preparation of the parties

involved.

The data were analysed partly quantitatively, partly qualitatively.

Research questions:

- Can conferencing be implemented in the Belgian youth protection system and if yes, in what way?

- Are the rights of the participants protected?

- Are the participants satisfied with the conference?

- Is the support network strengthened in its educational tasks?

- Is the recidivism rate decreasing?

- Can conferencing lower the pressure on closed institutions?



- Vanfraechem, I., Herstelgericht groepsoverleg, Brugge: die keure, 2007.

- Vanfraechem, I. en Walgrave, L., ‘Les conférences de groupe familial (Family Group Conferences)’, Les

cahiers de la justice, Parijs: Editions Dalloz, 2006, 153-174.

- Vanfraechem, I., ‘Evaluating conferencing for serious juvenile delinquency’, in Elliott, E. and Gordon, R.

(eds), Restorative Justice: emerging issues in practice and evaluation, Cullompton: Willan Publishing,

2005, 278-295.


Implementing Peacemaking Circles in Europe

Project information

• Researcher: Davy D’Hondt

• Supervisor: Ivo Aertsen and Stephan Parmentier

• Period: 1 November 2011 – August 2013

• Funding: KU Leuven/European Commissian


Objective:

We want to study if it is possible to implement peacemaking circles in a European context.

Formulation of the research issue:

Crime is, according to restorative justice, seen as an offence against the community and its members (as

opposed to the penal law, which sees crime as an offence against the law). The idea behind peacemaking

circles is to restore the harm done by this offence and to prevent future offences.

With this research we want to see if it’s possible to implement peacemaking circles in an European context.

By doing this, we hope to contribute to the development and practice of restorative justice. We believe that

peacemaking circles can be an added value to the practice of restorative justice, because on the one hand

they are open to the whole community (victim, offender, community, judicial actors) and on the other hand

they create a safe place for this by some structural elements (talking piece, circle meeting, etc.).

Research questions and problem statement: The main research question is:

How can peacemaking circles be implemented in countries governed by the principle of legality?

Methodology

The research takes place in 3 European countries: Belgium (KU Leuven), Germany (University of

Tuebingen) en Hungary (Foresee en OKRI).

First there is a literature review and “expert interviews” in each country. The next step is, through action

research, to organize 10 – 15 circles per country. For this, in each country there is sought a partner

organization (for Belgium, this is Suggnomè vzw). As such, we hope to find a specific model of peacemaking

circles suited for an European context. The completed peacemaking circles will also be monitored and

evaluated; particularly concerning satisfaction and experience of all participating parties (victim, offender,

support persons, community members, and judicial actors).


Developing standards for assistance to victims of terrorism

Project information

• Researcher: Ines Staiger


• Co-supervisor: Letizia Paoli

• Period: 15 March 2007 - 30 June 2008

• Funding: European Commission and European Forum for Restorative Justice


Objectives: to develop a set of standards on psychosocial assistance and legal advice to victims and their

families, including the possible role of restorative justice principles and practices, involving a broad selection

of European experts from EU member states and EU institutions.

Research issue: the existing international guidelines and principles concerning victims of terrorism are

relatively abstract or include victims of terrorism under the general header of victims of crime. The project

intends to deliver standards that are a more adequate reflection of the situation of victims of terrorism.

Research design: A literature review will be undertaken by a team of researchers who are supported by a

steering committee of academic experts from the Institute of Criminology of the K.U.Leuven, INTERVICT

(University of Tilburg), the Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence of the University of St.

Andrews, Victim Support Netherlands and the European Forum for Restorative Justice. The research

findings compiled in the literature review are used as the basis for a set of seminars specifically focusing on

the translation of the research findings into a coherent set of standards. The reports of both the research

findings and the proposed standards will be launched at an international conference in March 2008. This will

be followed by a final publication and a final report to the European Commission in June 2008.

Research questions and problem definition: The project focuses on the development of standards to ensure

appropriate aid for victims in the aftermath of terrorist acts. It will seek to further elaborate the Council of

Europe Guidelines on the Protection of Victims of Terrorist Acts and the possible application of restorative

justice principles and practices.

The final conference on the project took place in Tilburg on March 10 and 11, 2008.


- Letschert, R., Staiger, I. and Pemberton, A. (2010). Assisting victims of terrorism. Towards a European

standard of justice. New York: Springer.


Linkedness in schools

Project information

• Researchers: Guy Deboutte, Anouk Depuydt


• Co-supervisor: Ferre Laevers

• Period: 1 September 2006 - 31 August 2007

• Funding: Vlaamse minister van Onderwijs en Vorming


The Linkedness Project emerged from the research centre ‘Criminality and Worldviews’. This centre for

fundamental interdisciplinary research on crime prevention, (school) mediation and restorative justice was

later integrated in the Restorative Justice Research Line of LINC (the Leuven Institute of Criminology).

Professor Tony Peters and Professor I. Aertsen are the promotors of the project.

As a result of the development of research in the field of crime prevention in schools, a practice of conflict

and violence management and prevention has emerged in primary and secondary schools all over Flanders

(Belgium) under the name 'Project Verbondenheid', the Linkedness Project. This research was carried out

with the assistance of Professor Ferre Laevers of the Department of Education (Expertise Centre for

Experiential Education, or ‘Expertisecentrum voor Ervaringsgericht Onderwijs’), a branch of the Faculty of

Psychology and Pedagogical Sciences.

The primary objective of ‘Project Solidarity’ concerned the observation that ‘delinquency’ is related to the

poor or absent link between offender and victim surroundings. Preventing violence, vandalism, and antisocial

behavior is not possible without giving attention to these missing or damaged life links. Therefore, each

curative or preventative strategy must be aimed at repairing and/or developing the link of children or youths

(and teachers and adults) (a) with oneself (b) with others (c) with the material surroundings (d) with the social

environment, and (e) one’s life as a whole. The ethical and societal contextualization of crime in general,

problematic behaviour in schools and generating a positive school climate for students were the central

issues of the project.

The approach of a fundamental prevention strategy is currently functioning in primary and secondary schools

all over Flanders. Next to this, the theoretical framework and models are applied in other domains of society

(i.e social welfare, penal justice system, victim support) and in other European countries, such as

Switzerland, France, the Netherlands, and Portugal. The concept of ‘solidarity’ or connectedness is a key

issue in this model. For the development of a culture of solidarity within schools, a special method has been

developed, entitled ‘Schoolteam Based Process Oriented Working (S.P.W.) model.

In line with our own principles, we tried to channel problem-focused activity into positive communal goals as

quickly as possible. Due to the complexity and the high quantity of secondary schools, much more action is

necessary than only the task of those who are guiding the process. These individuals guard the points of

departure of ‘solidarity’ and also sensitize, activate and help delineate the boundaries of the process. Often,

supplementary work from specialists is required to address serious conflicts within a large school team, such


as drug use or extreme forms of harassment, for example. in situations where there is poor school

infrastructure and widespread intercultural conflicts.


- Depuydt, A. en Deklerck, J. (2005) ‘Re-ligare’ als antwoord op ‘de-linquentie’. Een aanzet tot een

ethische, contextuele en ecologische criminologie. Leuven: KULeuven. Proefschrift ingediend tot het

behalen van de graad van doctor in de criminologische wetenschappen. (Niet uitgegeven)

- Depuydt, A. (1991) Re-ligie als antwoord op de-linkwentie: een nieuwe basisfilosofie voor kinderen in het

lager onderwijs? Leuven: KULeuven, verhandeling ingediend tot het behalen van de graad van licentiaat

in de criminologie. (Niet gepubliceerd)

- Deboutte, G. (2004) ‘Verbondenheid: een ander en preventief antwoord op respectloos gedrag. Hoe

toewerken naar een positief klas- en schoolklimaat?’ In: Handboek Leerlingenbegeleiding Twee.

Aflevering 5, juni 2004, pp. 57-77. Uitg. Wolters-Plantyn.


Family Group Conferences in schools

Project information

• Researchers: Nicole Vettenburg, Dieter Burssens

• Supervisor: Lode Walgrave

• Period: 1 December 2001 - 31 March 2004

• Funding: Ministerie van de Vlaamse Gemeenschap, Departement Onderwijs


This research project dealt with new ways of responding to serious incidents in schools. Because existing

disciplinary measures in schools are often not satisfactory, it was assumed that the restorative measures of

family group conferencing – including those that have already proven to be successful in the judicial

framework – would result in positive outcomes in an educational setting as well. In the first part, the sanction

model of restorative justice was theoretically compared with the retributive and the rehabilitative models. The

second section discussed a survey where a structured questionnaire was sent to all Flemish secondary

schools. This information offered insight into the sanctions that are applied in schools and the reasons

behind these sanctions. The respondents appeared to apply their sanctions based on rehabilitative

reasoning. A number of respondents still seemed to believe in the deterring effect of retribution. Restorative

sanctions were also applied, although to a lesser extent. The third section dealt with the deliberation of the

use of restorative measures in school.

During the scientific monitoring of the experiment, 11 conferences were observed and 62 participants were

interviewed, among them 14 victims and 9 offenders. In addition, supporters of the victims (20), parents of

the offenders (9), other supporters of the offenders (8) and 2 absent victims were interviewed. The facilitators

completed a preparatory questionnaire for each session and also took part in intervisions and a focus-group

discussion.

The experiment with restorative group conferencing demonstrated that there is a possibility for tackling these

problems radically and constructively. The offenders have to accept responsibility, yet the possibility that

stigmatisation may occur must be controlled. At the same time, the needs of the victims are acknowledged

and the harm they have suffered can be repaired to the greatest extent possible.


- Walgrave, L., Met het oog op herstel, Leuven, Universitaire Pers, 2000, 178p.

- Walgrave, L. & Vettenburg, N., Herstelgericht groepsoverleg. Nieuwe wegen in de aanpak van

jeugddelinquentie en tuchtproblemen, Leuven, Lannoocampus, 2006, 130p.

- Burssens, D., & Vettenburg, N., "Restorative Group Conferencing at School: A Constructive Response to

Serious Incidents", Journal of School Violence, 2006, afl. 2, 5-17.

- Burssens, D. & Vettenburg, N., Herstelgericht groepsoverleg in de Vlaamse schoolcontext. Tijdschrift voor

Jeugdrecht en Kinderrechten, 2008, afl. 3-4, 176-180.

- Burssens, D. & Vettenburg, N., Herstelgericht groepsoverleg in een pedagogische context. Tijdschrift voor

Herstelrecht, 8 (2).


Mediation at police level

Project information

• Researchers: Ivo Aertsen, Anne Lemonne (U.L.B.)

• Supervisors: Ivo Aertsen, Elmar Weitekamp, Philippe Mary (U.L.B.), Dominique De Fraene (U.L.B.)

• Period: 1 January 2003 - 31 August 2003

• Funding: Federale Minister van Economie en Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, belast met het

Grootstedenbeleid


The research was carried out in cooperation with the Université Libre de Bruxelles and was ordered by the

Federal Minister responsible for Major City policies. The research dealt with an inventory and analysis of

different forms of ‘local’ mediation for minor offences, as it is offered by or on close cooperation with local

police services in a limited number of Belgian cities. The practices of local mediation were studied with

respect to their origins, objectives, institutional and organisational framework and actual functioning. Special

attention went to its relation with the police organisation and the role of the police, the mediation methods

used, the further criminal justice procedure and a comparison with other types of victim-offender mediation.

Moreover, a typology of projects on ‘local mediation’ was drafted.

The research methodology made use of document analysis, interviews and focus groups.


- Aertsen, I. en Lemonne, A. (2003). Lokale bemiddeling of schadebemiddeling als ‘alternatieve maatregel

voor lichte misdrijven in België’. Eindverslag, Leuven, K.U.Leuven, Onderzoeksgroep Penologie en

Victimologie. (Franse uitgave: Lemonne, A. et Aertsen, I. (2003), La médiation locale comme ‘mesure

alternative pour les délits de faible importance en Belgique. Rapport final, Bruxelles, U.L.B., Centre de

recherches criminologiques).

- Aertsen, I. (2009). Restorative police practices in Belgium: a research into mediation processes and their

organisation. Cahiers Politiestudies/Journal of Police Studies (2), 65-82.


Restorative Justice in prison (Project Herstelgerichte Detentie)

Project information

• Supervisors: Stephan Parmentier, Tony Peters, Georges Kellens

• Researchers: Tinneke Van Camp, Tina Van Win, Ivo Aertsen, Philip Daeninck, Fabienne

Hodiaumont, Hannelore Malempré

• Period: 2000-2002

• Funding: Federal Ministry of Justice


This was a research on behalf of the federal Ministry of Justice in cooperation with the School of Criminology

at the University of Liège. The main purpose of the project was to offer a scientific follow-up of the pilot

project that was initiated in six Belgian prisons in the period 1998-2000 and that resulted in a nation wide

implementation of restorative justice in all Belgian penitentiary institutions in 2000. During the project, a

manual on developing restorative approaches in a prison setting has been elaborated and published.

Moreover, the research project focused on specific topics, including the study of a deontological framework

for those working in the field, such as the restorative justice prison advisors. Finally, an (internationally

oriented) annotated bibliography on restorative justice in prisons has been compiled.


- Aertsen, I., Daeninck, Ph. en Van Camp, T. (2001). Aanzetten tot een deontologie van herstelgerichte

detentie. Leuven: K.U.Leuven, Research Group Penology and Victimology.

- Christiaensen, S., Daeninck, Ph., Van Camp, T., Van Win, T., Robert, L., Vanspauwen, K. en Aertsen, I.

(2001). Wetenschappelijke ondersteuning van het project herstelgerichte detentie. Rapport. Leuven:

K.U.Leuven, Research Group Penology and Victimology.

- Parmentier, S., Vanspauwen, K., Robert, L. en Aertsen, I. (2003). Herstelrecht en herstelgerichte

strafuitvoering: een selectieve en geannoteerde bibliografie – Restorative justice and restorative detention:

a selected and annotated bibliography. Leuven: K.U.Leuven, Research Group Penology and Victimology.

- Camp, T., Van Win, T., Aertsen, I., Daeninck, Ph., Hodiaumont, F. and Malempré, H. (Promotors

Parmentier, S., Peters, T. and Kellens, G.) (2004). Vademecum herstelrecht en gevangenis. Gent:

Academia Press.

- Aertsen, I. (2005), Restorative Prisons: A Contradiction in Terms? in Emsley, C. (ed), The Persistent

Prison. Problems, Images and Alternatives, London: Francis Boutle Publishers, 2005, 196-213.

- Robert, L. and Peters, T. (2002), How restorative justice is able to transcend the prison walls : a

discussion of the project ‘restorative detention”, in Weitekamp, E.G.M. and Kerner, H.J. (eds), Restorative

Justice in Context: international practice and directions, Cullompton: Willan Publishing, 95- 122.

- Peters, T. and Robert, L. (2003), Como la restauracion puede saltar los muros de la carcel. Una

discussion sobre el proyecto ‘Detencion dirigida a la restauracion’, Eguzkilore, Nr.17, 161-185.

- Robert, L. (2004), Herstelgerichte detentie in België: tralies in de weg? Tijdschrift voor Herstelrecht, Vol.4,

Nr.2, 24- 41.

- Daems, T. and Robert, L. (2006), Victims, Knowledge(s) and Prisons, European Journal of Crime,

Criminal Law and Criminal Justice, Vol.14, No.3, 256-270.


- Daems, T., Robert, L., Neys, A. and Peters, T. (2006), L’entrée de la victime dans l’espace pénitentiaire,

in Born, M., Kéfer, F. and Lemaître, A. (eds), Une criminologie de la tradition à l’innovation. En hommage

à Georges Kellens, Brussel: De Boeck & Larcier, 415-431.

- Robert, L. and Peters, T. (2008), Bruggen bouwen: over de functie van de herstelconsulent in Belgische

gevangenissen, in Franken, A.A., De Langen, M. and Moerings, M. (eds), Constante waarden. Liber

amicorum prof. Mr. Constantijn Kelk, Den Haag: BJU, Pompe reeks, 553-561.


Mediation and Restorative Justice in prison settings

Project information

• Promoter: Foresee Research Group, Budapest (Hungary)

• Partners: Hungarian National Institute of Criminology (OKRI), Innokut Nonprofit Researching and

Servicing (INN), Bremen VOM Service, University of Applied Sciences in Public Administration in

Bremen, Independent Academic Research Studies (IARS) and the European Forum for Restorative

Justice

• Period: 2009 - 2012

• Funding: Criminal Justice Programme of the European Commission


The main objective of this project is to explore the opportunities for implementing mediation and RJ practices

into the prison settings. A further aim is to test if such practices can help in supporting victims of crime,

raising responsibility-taking in offenders, supporting the prison staff and inmates in peacefully resolving their

internal conflicts and reintegrating offenders into the society after release. The project will start with a

research phase, after which it will progress into a pilot project. The existing practices in Germany and the UK

will be evaluated and further developed. In Hungary a pilot project will be started.

Involvement of the European Forum for Restorative Justice in cooperation with LINC: general support,

participating in expert meetings and final seminar, publishing the project outcomes.


Barabás, T., Fellegi, B. & Windt, Sz. (eds) (2012). Responsibility-taking, relationship-building and restoration

in prisons. Budapest: OKRI.


Mass victimization and restorative justice. In search for the possibilities

to apply restorative justice principles in the context of dealing with the

past. Case Study South Africa

Project information

• Researcher: Kris Vanspauwen

• Supervisor: Stephan Parmentier

• Co-supervisor: Elmar Weitekamp

• Period: 1 January 2003 - 30 June 2007

• Funding: F.W.O. Project: werkings- en personeelsmiddelen

VLIR/IOS Congrestoelage: werkingsmiddelen

IRO Reisbeurs (Internationale Relaties, K.U.Leuven): werkingsmiddelen

Bilaterale Overeenkomsten (Internationale Relaties, K.U.Leuven): werkingsmiddelen


Should restorative justice principles be applied in situations of gross violations of human rights? If so, under

which conditions can this take place and what are the boundaries herein? These central issues were tested

using case studies on South Africa. This study attempted to bridge two immensely different theoretical

movements: “transitional justice” and “restorative justice”.

The research project was intended to study how restorative justice principles could be applied in transitional

justice processes that are dealing with the aftermath of gross human rights violations that have occurred

during a violent conflict. The main unit of analysis of this study was the South African Truth and

Reconciliation Commission (TRC) (institutional context), and the processes on the community level that are

derived from these commissions (individual level).

The range of “restorative justice” processes (communication, confrontation, dialogue) for victims and

offenders was analysed extensively with regard to their form and availability (restitution, community service,

other forms of restoration) in addition to being examined with regard to their “restorativeness” and effects.

The empirical study was based on two sets of data. First, interview data from victims, perpetrators and

stakeholders that had participated in the TRC was included. This data was analysed by means of a content

analysis. Second, interviews from South African experts that had studied the TRC process served as another

source of information utilized in the study. The analysis of this data was based on the Delphi method.


- Aertsen, I., Arsovska, J., Rohne, H.-G., Valiñas, M. and Vanspauwen, K. (Eds.) (2008). Restoring justice

after large-scale violent conflicts: Kosovo, DR Congo and the Israeli-Palestinan case. Cullompton: Willan

Publishing

- Valinas, M. and Vanspauwen, K. (2009). Truth-seeking after violent conflict: experiences from South

Africa and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Contemporary Justice Review, 12 (3), 269-287.


Mass victimization and restorative justice. In search of the position of

restorative justice in an integrated approach to mass victimization in

post-conflict situations. Case studies in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia

Project information

• Researcher: Marta Valinas


• Co-supervisor: Elmar Weitekamp

• Period: 15 October 2004 - 30 September 2008

• Funding: K.U.Leuven


This research project examined the question of how post-conflict societies address their legacy of mass

violence and what can be the role and contribution of a restorative justice approach in that process, by

analyzing two case studies: Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The aim of this project was to explore the

applicability of restorative justice principles in the aftermath of serious and large-scale abuses, namely what

could be the added value of these principles in a transitional justice process in relation to other primarily

retributive approaches, and what are the factors that can foster or hamper the adoption of a restorative

approach in such contexts. In order to do so, this study analysed both institutional, top-down approaches of

dealing with the past in both countries (e.g. the attempts to create truth commissions) as well as community-

level, interpersonal and bottom-up processes of social reconstruction (e.g. NGO initiatives towards

reconciliation) and looked at to what extent these processes integrate restorative justice principles.

The research was carried out through an in-depth literary review on the two key fields of study – transitional

justice and restorative justice - and through extensive field research in the two countries under study. The

field research included: a series of semi-structured interviews with key institutional stakeholders in the

transitional justice process in both countries, in-depth interviews with individuals who have participated

and/or been victimized during the conflicts; two large, country-wide surveys (one in Serbia and one in Bosnia

and Herzegovina) on the opinions and attitudes of individuals on the process of dealing with the past in their

country and on the contribution of a restorative justice approach to that process; and finally, three seminars

organized in the region of the former Yugoslavia where research findings were presented and discussed.


- Valinas, M. and Vanspauwen, K. (2009). Truth-seeking after violent conflict: experiences from South

Africa and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Contemporary Justice Review, 12 (3), 269-287.

- Aertsen, I., Arsovksa, J., Rohne, H-C., Valiñas, M. and Vanspauwen, K. (eds.) (2008). Restoring Justice

after large-scale violent conflicts: Kosovo, DR Congo and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Cullompton:

Willan Publishing.


Mass Victimization and Restorative Justice in Colombia: Pathways

towards Peace and Reconciliation?

Project information

• Researcher: Isabella Bueno



• Funding: IRO Scholarship


Despite various years of an intensive ongoing-armed conflict in Colombia, state-organized transitional justice

mechanisms are being applied. The aim of this research project is to deepen our understanding with regard

to the applicability of restorative justice principles in a transitional justice context of ongoing conflict. It is our

intention to provide with information the existing lacuna on the body of literature on the relationship of these

two fields. In order to achieve this goal, we will examine the way in which primary and secondary institutions

contribute to the reparation of the individual and relational harm of victims and perpetrators of the Colombian

ongoing conflict. This research is intended to cover a four-year period and is based on a qualitative research

strategy.


Mediation and community oriented measures in cases of hate crime and

discrimination

Project information

• Researcher: Nathalie Lauwers


• Period: 1 March 2010 - 1 February 2011

• Funding: Centre for Equal Opportunities and Opposition to Racism


The study focused on an analysis of the possible role of mediation and other community oriented measures

when dealing with hate crime and different types of discrimination (racism, homophobia and others). The

study consisted of the following parts: description of the current situation in Belgium including a discussion of

the (judicial) relevance of certain approaches for the problem under study; an analysis of specific types of

measures and practical conditions for their implementation; a further study on specific features of some

measures and their applicability in different geographical regions.


Lauwers, N. and Aertsen, I. (2011). De rol van bepaalde alternatieve maatregelen in (buiten)gerechtelijke

dossiers in verband met haatmisdrijven en discriminatie (racisme, homofobie en andere discriminaties):

eindverslag (onuitgegeven).


Training in International Family Mediation

Project information

• Researcher: Brunilda Pali and Sandra Voet


• Period: 1 July 2010 – 30 June 2012

• Funding: European Commission – Specific Programme Civil Justice 2009


Child Focus is doing a European project around training in international family mediation, together with the

following partners: Mediation bei internationalen Kindschaftskonflikten (Mikk - Germany), K.U.Leuven and

Centrum Internationale Kinderontvoeringen (Netherlands). This project meets the priority of the Directive

2008/52/EC on certain aspects of mediation in civil and commercial matters. The project will run over two

years and will have two phases.

The goal at the end of the first phase is to create and try out a training programme for family mediators in

European member states. At the end of the second phase, a second training programme will be created,

specifically for trainers and instructors in family mediation. This second training programme will be given to

trainers from all European members states, in order for them to train family mediators in their own countries.

The final goal is the creation of a network of international family mediators in Europe.

The K.U.Leuven, as the academic partner, is undertaking a research analysis to define the whole landscape

of family mediation and international family mediation, involving children, in Europe and in all member states

individually. The results of this research analysis will be used to create both trainings programmes. A part of

the researchers’ work is also to define criteria for the selection of participants from all member states for the

training programmes. Finally, the researchers will also participate in the evaluation of the first training

programme.


3. PSYCHO-SOCIAL DYNAMICS IN RESTORATIVE JUSTICE

Perceptions of justice and fairness in criminal proceedings and

restorative encounters: Extending theories of procedural justice

Project information

• Researcher: Vicky De Mesmaecker


• Co-supervisor: Johan Goethals


• Funding: K.U.Leuven (Doctoral Scholarship)


The general aim of this research project was to investigate the relationship between restorative justice and

procedural justice theory. The main research question was: “To which degree does procedural justice theory

provide for a normative foundation for restorative justice philosophy?”

When restorative justice advocates are called upon to provide for theoretical foundations for restorative

interventions, procedural justice theory is very often referred to. The assertion that empowerment of the

parties affected by crime contributes to feelings of fairness and satisfaction is supported by the theory of

procedural justice. However the last decade, new hypotheses on the importance of procedures to justice

judgements have been advanced in social psychology. These assert that the value of procedural fairness in

some situations cannot counterbalance the negative effect of an undesirable or unfair outcome. This would

mean that procedural justice theory cannot provide for a normative framework for restorative justice.

In order to shed light on this matter, we investigated (1) the basis of procedural justice judgements of victims

and offenders involved in a criminal trial, (2) victims’ and offenders’ perceptions of punishment and (3) the

impact of participation in victim-offender mediation on perceptions of procedural fairness. This was done

using three methods: (1) in-depth interviews, pre-trial and post-trial, with 54 victims and offenders of various

crimes, (2) a survey taken from these same respondents and (3) focus groups with mediators.

The results suggest that procedural justice theory is a theory that restorative justice researchers indeed can

take recourse to in order to substantiate their claim that the direct stakeholders to a crime value being

involved in the proceedings that are set up for dealing with these crimes, yet the theory cannot explain all of

the positive and negative features of restorative interventions. Additional explanatory models are needed.


- De Mesmaecker, V. (2009). Ervaring met justitie als differentiërende factor in het oordeel over justitie. Een

introductie tot procedurele rechtvaardigheid. Rechtskundig Weekblad, 14, 562-576.

- De Mesmaecker, V. (2011). Perceptions of justice and fairness in criminal proceedings and restorative

encounters: Extending theories of procedural justice. Unpublished dissertation.


Victim-offender mediation and victim’s restoration. A victimological

study in the context of restorative justice

Project information

• Researcher: Daniela Bolivar


• Co-supervisor: Johan Goethals

• Period: 1 October 2007 – April 2012

• Funding: K.U.Leuven (Selective Bilateral Agreements – SBA)


Research on restorative justice has had different focuses. One of them has been the impact of this practice

according to its own aims. An important question that research has tried to answer is if restorative justice

does repair the damage caused by the crime. Until now, the answer seems to be “yes‟; however, it is well

known that literature is not yet sufficiently developed to really know what happens to the victim in this

process. This is due to the fact most of the research has been done using quantitative methodology, dealt

with minor crimes or juvenile offenders and focused on the assessment of victims‟ satisfaction, instead of

using an integral concept of reparation.

The purpose of this research was to gain insight into the process and the impact of participation in victim-

offender mediation for victims of violent crimes. Using a psycho-social framework and, in particular, an

ecological approach, this study tried to find out to which degree and how the experience of mediation affects

elements related to reparation, in particular: victim identity, recovery of sense of control, dignity and sense of

safety, trust in social relationships and construction of new and adaptive meanings with regard to the crime

experience.

To achieve this purpose, the research was carried out by using both qualitative and quantitative research.

On one hand, in-depth interviews of victims of crimes were the main way of inquiry in the qualitative part. On

the other hand, questionnaires were used for the quantitative part. In both evaluations, dimensions such as

the crime experience, the offer of mediation, effects and impact of crime and expectations of recovery,

among others, were evaluated. In this study, a quasi-experimental design was used. In concrete, this means

an evaluation pre-post mediation with a non-random sample. In this study, victims who accept to participate

in mediation (G1) were compared with victims who did not want to participate (G2). The incorporation of the

second group was a way to avoid the effect of the self-selection phenomenon.

Among other things, findings suggest that victim-offender mediation tends to work better when certain

conditions (such as victim’s individual characteristics or characteristics of the victim’s community of care) are

given. When individual and contextual conditions are favorable, mediation may play a role in transforming

victims’ meanings associated with the crime.



- Bolivar, D. (2012). Community of care from a victim perspective: A qualitative study. Contemporary Justice

Review, 15(1), 7-37.

- Bolivar, D. (2012). Victim-offender mediation and victim’s restoration. A victimological study in the context

of restorative justice. Unpublished dissertation.

- Aertsen, I., Bolivar, D., De Mesmaecker, V., Lauwers, N. (2011). Restorative justice and the active victim:

exploring empowerment. Temida, Journal of victimization, human rights and gender, 14 (1), 5-19.

- Bolivar, D. (2011). Conceptualizing ‘Victim’s Restoration’ in Restorative Justice. International Review of

Victimology, 17 (3), p. 237-265.

- Bolivar, D. (2011). La víctima en la justicia restaurativa. Análisis desde una perspectiva psicosocial (“The

victim in restorative justice. Analysis from a psycho-social perspective”). In I. Olaizola and P. Francés (eds.).

Justicia Restaurativa y Mediación. Ediciones Universidad Pública de Navarra.


Desistance from crime: cognitive processes at work in spontaneous

adult desistance, with special attention to the effects of restorative

justice principles

Project information

• Researcher: Kristof Clonen

• Supervisor: Johan Goethals

• Co-supervisor: Ivo Aertsen

• Period: 16 januari 2006 - 31 december 2009

• Funding: F.W.O. Project


The project aimed to detect cognitive and motivational changes sustaining desistance from crime by adult

persistent offenders, giving special attention to the effects of principles of restoration. Utilizing the available

literature regarding this subject, it was assumed that living a crime free life presupposes a reconstruction of a

self-image of a ‘delinquent’ to one of a ‘delinquent-free self.’

Research by Maruna et. al (2001) has demonstrated that the outcome of such a process is not simply a brief

final decision of the delinquent, but is rather a lengthy process containing a series of conditions and thought

processes. As a result, we adopted an approach that allowed for maximum room for the personal and

creative interpretation of this self-image and for the cognitive processes that accompany it. In light of the

findings of the research of the restorative approach, we also explored the specific transformations that form

an expression of these approaches.

Narratives (life histories) of a group of desisting individuals (career criminals who refrained from crime during

at least five years) were compared to narratives of persisting adult offenders. An attempt was made to put

both groups together via matching, focusing on the following variables: age, nationality, gender, type of

crime, and socioeconomic characteristics. Life stories of both samples were explained in a narrative

manner, where specific attention was given to the processes and motivations that (in the professional

literature) already are connected with desistance. At the same time, the narratives were examined by

considering other possible motivational and cognitive processes, focusing on restorative components.

A study day on the project was organized at the Leuven Institute of Criminology on December 15, 2009.

Research questions

1. Do we find the similar cognitive transformations as described by Giordano et al. (2002) and Maruna (2001)

that deal with processes and conditions such as the actor's basic openness to change, one's exposure to a

particular hook of sets of hooks for change, the moments and conditions that make able to envision and

begin to fashion an appealing and conventional 'replacement' of the self, the transformation in the way the

actor views the deviant views the deviant behavior or life-style, and the perception of the negative past by

the delinquent himself?

2. How can important ‘turning points’ in the life of a delinquent function as ‘hooks for change’ (cited by

Giordano et al., 2002)? How, and under which conditions, can turning points be 'hooked' to restructure one's

delinquent life into that of a non delinquent life?


3. Are processes characteristic to a restorative justice approach detectable in the process of 'desistance'

from crime? These processes refer to (a) personal contact and confrontation with the victim, (b) repairing the

harm of the crime, and (c) stakeholder involvement in the justice process (victims, offenders and community

members should participate in the justice process).


- Clonen, K., Goethals, J. en Aertsen, I. (2009). Onderzoek naar het stopzetten van een criminele carrière:

de waarde van narratieve analyse. Panopticon, 30(1), 9-30.

- Clonen, K. (2009). Het stopzetten van een criminele carrière. Onderzoeksrapport. Leuven: K.U.Leuven,

Leuvens Instituut voor Criminologie.


Restorative justice and crime prevention

Project information

• Researcher: Anniek Gielen

• Supervisors: Ivo Aertsen, Inge Vanfraechem

• Period: 27/12/2008 – 27/04/2011

• Funding: European Commission - Directorate-General Justice, Freedom and Security


By restorative justice programmes we can understand any programme that uses restorative justice

processes - meaning a form of communication between all the parties immediately involved - and seeks to

achieve restorative outcomes. An outcome can be understood in terms of victim satisfaction, offender

satisfaction, better understanding, fulfillment of restitution agreements, etc. What if we interpret the outcome

in function of crime prevention? More specifically: Does participating in restorative justice programmes

reduce future re-offending? Can restorative justice have meaning as turning point in one's criminal course of

life in order to desist from crime? Can restorative justice prevent escalation in terms of future

revenge/aggression coming from the victim's side by restoring damages and giving the chance to regaining

personal freedom? And in a more broad sense: Can the existence (and spreading) of this new conflict

handling culture and related skills have an impact on society (general prevention)? In sum, there are several

dimensions and levels on which the preventive potential of restorative justice processes and outcomes be

studied. The project specifically focuses on:

− a theoretical study of the connecting points between restorative justice and crime prevention models;

− a research on the extent to which restorative justice is inscribed in either crime prevention policies or

other – for example crime victim – policies in the 27 EU Member States and the underlying rationale

for this;

− an inventory and analysis of existing empirical research on the effect of restorative justice practices

on crime prevention.

Extensive desk research, a survey in the EU Member States and the consultation with an expert group

resulted in a final report. The findings of the project should contribute to the discussions at both national and

EU policy level about whether and how restorative justice can support crime prevention policies.

Promotor: Juvenile Justice Department of the Italian Ministry of Justice

Partners: European Forum for Restorative Justice, Instituto Psicoanalitico per le Ricerche Sociali (Italy),

Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium), University of Leeds ( UK )


- Departement of Juvenile Justice - Italian ministry of Justice (Ed.). (2010). Restorative Justice and Crime

Prevention. Presenting a Theoretical Exploration, an Empirical Analysis and the Policy Perspective.

Brussels: European Commission – DG Justice, Freedom and Security.


Victims and restorative justice: an empirical study of the needs,

experiences and position of victims within restorative justice practices

Project information

• Researchers: Inge Vanfraechem, Daniela Bolivar


• Co-supervisor: Inge Vanfraechem

• Period: 1 January 2011 – 31 October 2012

• Funding: European Commission Action Grant


Objective(s)

The general objective of the project is to achieve more knowledge, through empirical evidence, on the

needs, experiences and position of victims when participating in restorative justice (RJ) programmes.

Formulation of the research issue: the development of RJ has lead to some questions with regard to the

position of the victim and therefore this project will deal with some questions at the micro- and macro-level.

At the micro-level, the focus will lie with the personal experience of the victim regarding the offer of

mediation, the experience of communicating with the offender in an (in)direct way, the mediation outcome

and the judicial context. At the macro-level, the legislative, organisational and institutional framework of

victim-offender mediation and conferencing will be studied.

Research design:

- Literature review and document analysis;

- Personal interviews in three different countries (Austria, Finland and the Netherlands) with victims who

participate in a (non-)completed mediation or who were referred but for whom the mediation could not

take place;

- Online survey for victim support organisations and RJ services throughout Europe;

- Three regional workshops to discuss the preliminary findings and get feedback;

- An international conference with workshops on the topic.

Research questions:

- What are victim needs and experiences in mediation? Are there differences depending on whether the

mediation is successful? What if the mediation could not take place?

- What is the relation between victim support organisations and RJ services?

Problem definition:

Practitioners, policy-makers and researchers have voiced concerns with regard to the position of the victim in

RJ, such as (1) possible negative effects on victims, (2) unknown aspects with regard to e.g. satisfaction, (3)

a risk of secondary victimisation, (4) the wish for punishment, (5) a lack of active participation, etc. These

concerns, however, have not yet been made very clear or explicit and have not been studied in an empirical

way. Furthermore the cooperation between victim support organisations and RJ services is not always

optimal, which is often related to a lack of understanding of working methods and principles. Therefore, this

project aims to get a clearer view on some of these issues, through the various methods used.


4. RESTORATIVE JUSTICE AND SOCIETY

Building social support for restorative justice

Project information

• Researchers: Brunilda Pali, Carmen Borg

• Supervisors: Ivo Aertsen (K.U.Leuven Institute of Criminology), Steven Eggermont (K.U.Leuven

School for Mass Communication Research)

• Period: 1 April 2008 – 1 April 2010

• Funding: European Commission - Criminal Justice Annual Work Programme 2007 (Action Grant)


The project was a conceptual and practice-oriented explorative study dealing with three main questions:

1) How can interaction and cooperation with the media be set up in order to inform the public about

restorative justice and in order to educate the public about crime and justice, and more specifically about

restorative justice?

2) How can cooperation be developed with civil society organisations (including socio-cultural organisations,

schools, religious communities, etc.) in order to inform and educate the public and to create broad support

for restorative justice?

3) How can we increase the involvement of individual citizens in the functioning of local restorative justice

programmes (eg. as volunteers)?

For each of these three points, practical experiences in different European countries were studied. An

analysis was made of how to apply theoretical insights in these three areas to the restorative justice field. An

International Seminar organised around the three themes was held in Leuven in June 2009. In a last step,

recommendations and good practice examples were collected in a practical toolkit and a practical guide.

The two researchers were supported by a steering committee composed of both people with broad

theoretical and scientific knowledge, and people with concrete experience in this field.

Partners were: the European Forum for Restorative Justice, the K.U.Leuven School for Mass

Communication Research, the Institute for the Sociology of Law and Criminology, Vienna, the Restorative

Justice Consortium, London, the National Mediation Service Norway, the Albanian Foundation for Conflict

Resolution and Radio La Benevolencija, The Netherlands.


- Pali B. and Pelikan C. (2010). Building Social Support for Restorative Justice: Media, Civil Society and

Citizens. Leuven: European Forum for Restorative Justice

- Pali, B. (2010). Media Toolkit: For Restorative Justice Organisations. Leuven: European Forum for

Restorative Justice


Art for Social Change: Exploring Justice through New Media

Documentary

Project information

• Researchers: Brunilda Pali, Vicky De Mesmaecker, Sharon Daniel


• Period: 1 October 2012 – 31 September 2013

• Funding: OPAK – Onderzoeksplatform Architectuur en Kunsten


This interdisciplinary, international arts research collaboration will explore the use of new media technologies

and documentary strategies to document and actively participate in the practice of restorative justice in an

effort to test the potential for activist art practice to have a direct role in changing social conditions. This

research will be translated into the design of a new form of new media documentary work that both

represents and embodies the practice of restorative justice -- engaging the public in a qualitative analysis of

the structural inequalities underlying current systems of retributive justice and, modeling strategies to

achieve a more productive, democratic and humane civil society. Research will further continue with the

evaluation of the New Media Documentary’s effects on the public through qualitative methods.

The general goal of the proposed research collaboration is to explore how New Media Documentary Art

practice might be used to facilitate concrete solutions to social problems. By using the approaches and tools

of New Media Documentary to document, analyze and present Restorative Justice approaches used in

specific criminal cases the team will attempt to engage the public in a consideration of the efficacy of

Restorative Justice and to question the assumptions behind our reliance on Retributive Justice. We imagine,

as we experiment with the strategies of participatory/new-media documentary, the methods and approaches

of Restorative Justice will begin to inform and expand those of activist media art practice.

Specifically, our objective is to produce a work of new media art for public exhibition/distribution that will

support and promote the social and institutional integration of Restorative Justice in Europe and the US. The

already existing working relationships between European and American colleagues both in the field of Art

Research and Restorative Justice may facilitate this process.

The project partners are: (1) Leuven Institute of Criminology – KU Leuven, (2) STUK Art Center - Leuven, (3)

Department of Film and Digital Media and Digital Arts and New Media MFA program - University of

California, Santa Cruz (USCS).


Perceptions of security and justice: Gender and cultural aspects

Project information

• Researcher: Dr. Estelle Zinsstag

• Supervisor: Ivo Aertsen (European Project Coordinator)

• Co-supervisor: Stephan Parmentier

• Period: 1 June 2012 – 20 March 2013

• Funding: KU Leuven


This project is directly related to the FP7 ALTERNATIVE project and I will therefore work in close

collaboration with the local team and the other members of the European consortium to support and

contribute to their activities in providing feedback, help them with editorial and content matters and to assist

in the strengthening of the international and European dimensions to the project. I am planning to continue to

develop my own expertise on a number of topics included in and relevant to the FP7 project. For example:

- On the initiative of a LINC team, a scientific and international journal on Restorative Justice will be

launched. Prof Ivo Aertsen, Em. Prof. Lode Walgrave, Dr Inge Vanfraechem and Prof. Stephan

Parmentier are involved and Hart Publishing will publish it. I will contribute as managing editor to the

Journal, along the editorial team and international boards.

- By working on a number of publications solo or with colleagues of the research lines on conferencing

and sexual violence and restorative justice

- I am also planning to participate to the FP7 activities with my double expertise more particularly on

the areas mentioned in the objectives of two of the FP7 work packages (1- ‘Alternative

Epistemologies of Justice and Security’ where I could participate actively in the work on some of the

aspects concerning gender issues and 2- ‘Conflict transformation analysis’ where I could work on the

aspects concerning transitional justice).

I am planning to participate to a number of international seminars and conferences which are of relevance to

the project, especially thematically, in particular in the areas of restorative justice, gender and conflict.

I will be also actively be involved in the research programme of the Leuven Institute of Criminology (LINC),

where I will participate to the Research Line activities of both Prof. Parmentier (Political Crimes, Human

Rights and Human Security) and Prof. Aertsen (Restorative Justice) and thus will work with researchers in

both areas enabling the strengthening of the collaboration between the topics and researchers, which should

benefit the FP7 project and team by bridging knowledge, activities and projects.


- Zinsstag, E. and Vanfraechem I. (eds.) (forthcoming 2012) Conferencing and Restorative Justice:

International Practices and Perspectives, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

- Fineman, M. and Zinsstag, E. (eds.) (forthcoming 2012) Feminist Perspectives on Transitional Justice:

Through a Theoretical, Policy and Practice-Oriented Lens, Antwerp: Intersentia

- Aertsen, I., Arsovska, J. et al. (eds.) (2008) Restoring Justice after Large-Scale Violent Conflicts:

Kosovo, DR Congo and the Israeli-Plestinian Case, Oxon: Routledge.


5. SOCIO-ETHICAL AND LEGAL-THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS OF

RESTORATIVE JUSTICE

The development of a theoretical frame for ‘restorative justice’ from an

ethical and social perspective

Project information

• Researchers: Johan Deklerck & Anouk Depuydt

• Supervisor: Tony Peters & Jan Van der Veken

• Period: 1 January 2000 – 31 December 2004

• Funding: F.W.O./ K.U.Leuven


There were two main research questions within this research project. (1) (In which way) can 'linkedness' be

an ethical frame of reference for processes of restorative justice between victim and offender? (2) (In which

way) can ‘integration-disintegration' be a model for the analysis and the orientation of processes of change of

the penal law system towards the principles of restorative justice?

The aim was:

(1) to research the properties of the concept 'linkedness' that are relevant for the process of mediation

between victim and offender (i.e. the experience, the ethical motivation, the action), and furthermore to refine

their relation (as described in the former research) theoretically, and to underpin and integrate them into a

larger ethical frame for restorative justice, by means of:

a) a philosophical in depth study of these three elements, their relation and their position in relevant

philosophical trends (method of comparative research, study of literature and interdisciplinary

seminars);

b) the test of the theoretical conclusions by an analysis of case studies, gathered in mediation dossiers

and in extended diary notations of the mediator, during a former research project on mediation for

reparation, completed by interviews with the mediators, involved in mediation (qualitative analysis of

50 case studies by means of a pre-structured scheme based on (a); structured interviews);

c) the treatment of gathered data in function of an ethical frame for restorative justice (criminological

analysis, feedback of specialists).

(2) to found four criteria that are important for the renewal of the penal law system towards restorative justice

theoretically, make them operational and bring them together in a theoretical frame for restorative justice.

These criteria are the attention for 1) a larger supporting social web for victim and offender for processes of

mediation; 2) the recovery of the ethical dimension within the penal law system; 3) the process type

character of mediation; 4) the construction of a continuum from informal till formal reactions on crime, by

means of:

a) making the model of 'integration-disintegration', as developed within the model of the layered

structure of reality, operational in the domain of restorative justice (study of criminological literature,

interdisciplinary workshops);


b) the study of the important theoretical models of mediation, starting from these four criteria (study of

literature on theoretical criminology, structured interviews with specialists);

c) the analysis of the most important forms of mediation for reparation, starting from these four criteria

(study of literature , study visits, workshops with members of the research group that are involved in

the applied research on restorative justice);

d) the handling of the research results of (b) and (c) in function of a criminological theory of restorative

justice, based on (a) (criminological analysis, feedback of specialists).


- Depuydt, A. en Deklerck, J., ‘Re-ligare’ als antwoord op ‘de-linquentie’. Een aanzet tot een ethische,

contextuele en ecologische criminologie. Proefschrift ingediend tot het behalen van de graad van doctor

in de criminologische wetenschappen (onuitg.), Leuven, K.U.Leuven, 2005.

- Deklerck, J. & Depuydt, A., 'Aanzetten tot een fundamentele theorievorming voor een herstellende

justitie'. In: Dupont, L. & Hutsebaut, F. (eds.), Herstelrecht tussen toekomst en verleden. Liber Amicorum

Tony Peters, Leuven, Universitaire Pers Leuven, 2001, 163 – 196.


Punishment and sentencing in a constitutional democracy

Project information

• Researcher: Erik Claes

• Supervisor: -

• Period: 1 October 2005 – 1 October 2009

• Funding: F.W.O. Post-doctoral project


General research issue: point of departure of this project was the increasing confusion as to the meaning,

functions, justification and purposes of criminal punishment. This is reflected in current sentencing practices

of many contemporary democracies. A plurality of penal aims and a diversity in types of criminal sanctions

accord an all too strong discretionary margin to the criminal judge than can be tolerated in a constitutional

democracy.

Objectives: This research project aimed to elaborate a coherent normative theory of criminal punishment

that 1) could offer sufficient guidance for sentencing practices; 2) help define the role of the judiciary power

in relation to other institutional actors (including restorative justice practitioners).

Research design:

In line of a constructivist method (R. Dworkin, J. Rawls), at least two research hypotheses steered this

project:

1. A coherent normative theory of criminal punishment should depart from reflection on the key

principles and aspirations of democracy and the rule of law (respect for fundamental rights, due

process values, checks and balances between institutional powers, equality, legal certainty, legality,

proportionality, participation of all the stakeholders, law as integrity). Equal respect for the human

dignity of every person plays an important interpretative role in the reconstruction and balancing of

these principles.

2. A normative theory of criminal punishment that tries to be expressive of the basic principles of

democracy and the rule of law, should spell out explicitly the limited ability of criminal punishment

and sentencing in realising the normative aspirations of a constitutional democracy. Again, reflection

on equal respect for human dignity promises to play an important critical and hermeneutic role in

mapping these limits. Retrieving the moral intuitions underlying human dignity can also help in

building bridges with restorative justice practices and, therefore, contribute to managing responsibly

the limits of criminal sentencing.


- Claes, E., ‘Straftoemeting, bestraffingsfilosofie, bestraffingssociologie’ [Sentencing, Philosophy of

Punishment, Sociology of Punishment], Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Rechtsfilosofie en Rechtstheorie,

2006, 29-54.


- Claes, E., ‘Punishment, Restorative Justice and the Right to Privacy’, in Claes, E., Duff, A. and Gutwirth,

S. (eds.), Privacy and the Criminal Law, Antwerpen/Oxford, Intersentia, 2006, 181-196

- Claes, E., ‘Legality, Criminal Justice and Human Dignity’, in Claes, E., Foque, R. and Peters, T. (eds.),

Punishment, Restorative Justice and the Morality of Law, Antwerpen/ Oxford, Intersentia, 2005, 17-56.


Impossible but necessary: A study on the ethics of restorative justice

Project information

• Researcher: Brunilda Pali

• Supervisors: Ivo Aertsen and Lode Walgrave

• Period: 1 September 2010 – 1 April 2014

• Funding: Self-Funding


This research project is about ethics and restorative justice. It starts with the concern that extreme safety

measures are putting justice at risk today, a risk reflected in illegal detention of people, “war on terror”

practices, restriction on asylum seekers, etc. Liberalism operates within a logic of identity (acknowledging

only what humans have in common: reason) and recognizes claims to justice only by those demonstrating

possession of the qualities of the liberal subject. The language used for the “Other” is similar to the language

used during the civil rights movement: tolerance, assimilation, integration. These are “noble” feelings but not

good guarantees to justice. The main challenge posed by feminism and postmodernism is how can we do

justice to those who are incomprehensibly and beyond empathy “Other”?

The project analyses this question from the framework of restorative justice (RJ), a way of doing justice

potentially able to close the gap between the universal and particular accounts of justice. An alternative

answer proposed by feminists (ex. Judith Butler) is the concept of contingent universals: universal criteria of

justice that cannot be philosophically grounded but are nevertheless empirically important. Other alternatives

are new foundations of universality: not based on logic of identity but on commonality of situation-

precariousness and vulnerability. Can RJ mediate between ethics of justice and ethics of care, particularity

and universality, rationality and emotion, just procedures and ethical concerns? Does its praxis depend on

logic of identity (justice and care for the similar), or on an ethic of alterity (justice and care for the other)?

Ten in-depth interviews will be conducted with mediators and leaders in the field, people who have been

actively constructing and influencing the discourse on restorative justice in Europe, who have constantly

bridged theory and practice. Additional material and case studies (=20) will be analysed, and 10 focus

groups will be organised.

The researcher argues that RJ has the potential to help the theory and practice of justice today. She argues

(in line with Barbara Hudson) for an ethics of relatedness, interdependence and responsibility, and a justice

“to come”. This will maintain the paradoxical notion of the universal (justice, ethics) as simultaneously

impossible and necessary.


FP7 - `ALTERNATIVE` - `Developing alternative understandings of

security and justice through restorative justice approaches in

intercultural settings within democratic societies`

Work package 3 – ’Research on models of restorative justice and their

relevance in intercultural conflicts’

Project information Researcher: Edit Törzs

Period: 1 February 2012 - 31 January 2016

Funding: EU Seventh Framework Programme (FP7), Cooperation Programme 2011, Security Theme

Project promoter: Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Prof. dr. Ivo Aertsen (European Project Coordinator) &

Dr. Inge Vanfraechem (European Project Manager))


The’ALTERNATIVE’ project aims to provide an alternative and deepened understanding based on empirical

evidence of how to handle conflicts within intercultural contexts in democratic societies in order to set up

security solutions for citizens and communities. In its methodology, it will combine theoretical research (on

three large topics as (1) alternative epistemologies of justice and security, (2) conflict intervention in

intercultural contexts and (3) existing methods of restorative justice and their relevance in intercultural

conflicts) with action research carried out in four different countries with different types, levels and settings of

conflicts.

Present research on existing methods of restorative justice and their relevance in intercultural conflicts, as

part of the FP7 project, on the one hand focuses on learning more on present models of restorative justice

with regard their applicability in this special context, and on the other hand will be influenced by the other

ongoing theoretical and action research done in the project, and aims to include their findings and concepts

into present research. All the research done in the project will contribute to advice on policies on national and

EU level concerning an alternative understanding of justice and security.

The theoretical research on RJ consists of two main parts:

1 - Studying existing RJ models and their potential application to conflicts in an intercultural context. This

work aims at identifying and analysing existing RJ models, such as mediation, conferencing, peace circles

and social mediation based on literature already exist and analysing their potential application to conflicts in

an intercultural context. With a help of a survey, information will also be gathered from different countries on

existing models, best practices and experiences on using RJ in intercultural settings.

2 - Analysing the relevance of RJ in intercultural settings and possible implications for EU policies. EU

policies will be studied more into detail: with respect to security and justice, with respect to diversity and

intercultural tensions, and with respect to RJ (and to bring them together in one perspective). Through a


document analysis and literature study, the dealing with conflicts in an intercultural setting and the potential

role of restorative justice will be analysed in order to estimate its potential impact.

Beyond research activities the EFRJ is responsible for most of the dissemination activities in the project,

with an approach of ongoing dissemination during the project to help the continuous interaction between

experience gained in different work packages, and also feedback from outside. Other highlight of the

dissemination will be a production of a film based on films made by citizens involved in action research.

Therefore, film-making in this project will be used both as research, but dissemination tool as well.

The project partners are: Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium, Norwegian Social Research, Norway,

European Forum for Restorative Justice, Belgium, Institute for the Sociology of Law and Criminology,

Austria, Foresee Research Group, Hungary, Victimology Society of Serbia, Serbia, University of Ulster, UK


B. RESEARCH COORDINATION

FP7 - `ALTERNATIVE` - `Developing alternative understandings of

security and justice through restorative justice approaches in

intercultural settings within democratic societies`

Project information

Researchers: The project will be carried out by seven research institutes with broad European

representation. Coordinator of the project is KU Leuven Institute of Criminology. The other partners are:

- Norwegian Social Research (NOVA), Norway

- European Forum for Restorative Justice (EFRJ), Belgium

- Institute for the Sociology of Law and Criminology (IRKS), Austria

- Foresee Research Group (Foresee), Hungary

- Victimology Society of Serbia (VDS), Serbia

- University of Ulster (UU), UK

At each of these research institutes several researchers are involved in the project.

Period: 1 February 2012 – 31 January 2016

Funding: EU Seventh Framework Programme (FP7), Cooperation Programme 2011, Security Theme

Project promoters: Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Prof. dr. Ivo Aertsen (European Project Coordinator) &

Dr. Inge Vanfraechem (European Project Manager))


The overall objective of the project is to provide an alternative and deepened understanding based on

empirical evidence of how to handle conflicts within intercultural contexts in democratic societies in order to

set up security solutions for citizens and communities. From this main objective several specific objectives

are derived:

1. To develop a coherent theoretical framework for an alternative understanding of security and justice

2. To develop empirically applicable knowledge on conflict and conflict transformation in intercultural

settings

3. To design, apply and evaluate concrete action models in four different intercultural conflict settings,

based on an alternative understanding of justice and security and on existing restorative justice

models

4. To analyse the findings from the four pilot settings in a comparative way and to advance knowledge

by integrating the empirical results into theoretical insights and by adapting the latter accordingly.

The project will study both the phenomenon of conflict (its nature, characteristics, evolution, definitions,

understandings) and conflict intervention in intercultural contexts, as seen from the framework of restorative

justice, and provide alternative understandings of both.

The theoretically oriented work packages deal mainly with alternative epistemologies of justice and security,

with conflict and conflict resolution approaches, and with RJ models application and their relevance for

European policies.


The practice oriented work packages represent four settings or ‘case studies’, on the basis of which a

comparative analysis will be made. In each of the work packages the assessment of the phenomenon

precedes the development of a local action research programme. The case studies are located at four

different sites. The action research in each of these sites is dedicated to different levels of intercultural

conflicts: 1) at the micro-level - everyday conflicts between local residents and residents with migrant

background in public/social housing (Vienna); 2) at the meso-level - conflicts in a small town with Roma and

non-Roma inhabitants (Hungary); 3) at the meso/macro-level - interethnic conflicts within three multi-ethnic

and multicultural regions: conflicts between Serbs, Albanians, Muslims and Croats (Serbia); 4) and at the

meso/macro-level - civil conflicts at three sites: conflicts between a local community and gangs of youths;

between long term residents and recent immigrants; and inter-community sectarian conflict (Northern

Ireland).


COST Action A21: ‘Restorative Justice Developments in Europe’

Project information

Researchers: About 70 researchers from 21 European countries were part of the network.

Coordinator and Chair of Management Committee was prof. dr. Ivo Aertsen. Chairs of the Working Groups

were respectively Ida Hydle (Norway), Michael Kilchling (Germany), Rob Mackay (Scotland) and Jana

Arsovska (Macedonia).

Period: 29 November 2002 – 28 November 2006

Funding: European Union & European Science Foundation

Project promoters: Prof. Dr. Ivo Aertsen (Chair) & Dr. Robert Mackay (Vice-Chair)


The main objective of the Action was to enhance and to deepen knowledge on theoretical and practical

aspects of restorative justice in Europe, with a view to supporting implementation strategies in a scientifically

sound way. In order to reach this general objective, a network of researchers throughout Europe was

established to:

1) exchange and discuss research needs, methods and results;

2) co-ordinate research projects in the respective countries as far as possible and desirable;

3) stimulate or support further (common) research projects.

The scientific programme of the COST Action was split up in four domains, each domain being dealt with by

a Working Group:

1. Evaluative research on restorative justice practices

2. Policy oriented research on restorative justice developments

3. Theoretical research

4. Restorative justice, violent state conflicts and mass victimisation

The Working Groups met twice a year, and additionally workshops, conferences and study visits were

organised. The COST Action resulted in 6 book publications and numerous articles.

More information on this COST Action and its partners can be found here:

http://www.cost.eu/domains_actions/isch/Actions/A21

http://www.euforumrj.org/Projects/projects.COST.htm


- Aertsen, I., Arsovska, J., Rohne, H.-C., Valiñas, M. and Vanspauwen, K. (eds.), Restoring justice after

large-scale violent conflicts: Kosovo, DR Congo and the Israeli-Palestinian case, Cullompton, Willan

Publishing, 2008.

- Aertsen, I., Daems, T. and Robert, L. (eds.), Institutionalizing Restorative Justice, Cullompton, Willan

Publishing, 2006.

- Brian Williams Memorial Volume on the theme of Social Justice, British Journal of Community Justice,

Vol. 6, Issue 2, 2008 (Special Issue with 10 contributions offered by the COST Action Working Group on

Evaluative Research).

- Mackay, R., Bošnjak, M., Deklerck, J., Pelikan, C., van Stokkom, B. and Wright, M. (eds.), Images of

Restorative Justice Theory, Frankfurt am Main, Verlag für Polizeiwissenschaft, 2007.


- Miers, D. and Aertsen, I. (eds.), Regulating Restorative Justice. A comparative study of legislative

provision in European countries, Frankfurt am Main, Verlag für Polizeiwissenschaft, 2012.

- Vanfraechem, I., Aertsen, I. and Willemsens, J. (eds.), Restorative Justice Realities. Empirical research

in a European context, The Hague, Eleven International Publishing, 2010.


C. RESTORATIVE JUSTICE: AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL

Published by Hart Publishing

Restorative Justice seeks to facilitate the development and exchange of scientifically based knowledge on

past, on-going and future practices, models and theories within the domain of restorative justice (RJ). It aims

to gather and present in a systematised way scientific practice and policy related information on RJ

worldwide, thereby deepening empirical and theoretical knowledge and achieving a fluent exchange of

knowledge which will stimulate debates within the field of restorative justice and advance the development of

RJ worldwide in a critical and independent way

Restorative Justice publishes original, ground-breaking and innovative articles about RJ and as such seeks

to be the leading worldwide forum for those working in the field of RJ - academics, researchers, practitioners

and policy-makers.

Editorial Team

Professor Ivo Aertsen (KU Leuven, Belgium) (Editor in Chief)

Dr Estelle Zinsstag (KU Leuven, Belgium) (Managing Editor)

Professor Stephan Parmentier (KU Leuven, Belgium) (Associate Editor)

Dr Inge Vanfraechem (KU Leuven, Belgium) (Associate Editor)

Emeritus Professor Lode Walgrave (KU Leuven, Belgium) (Associate Editor)

Prof Gerry Johnstone (University of Hull, UK) (Book Review Editor)

Editorial Board

Prof Gordon Bazemore (Florida Atlantic University, USA); Prof John Blad (Erasmus University Rotterdam,

the Netherlands); Prof Robert Cario (Université de Pau, France); Prof Grazia Mannozzi (University of

Insubria, Italy); Mr Eduardo Rezende Melo (Judge for the State of Sao Paulo, Brazil); Dr Christa Pelikan

(Institut für Rechts- und Kriminalsoziologie, Austria ); Dr Ann Skelton (University of Pretoria, South Africa); Dr

Heather Strang (University of Cambridge, UK and Australian National University, Australia); Prof Dennis

Wong (City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong)

International Advisory Board

Mr Dominic Barter (Restorative Circles, Brazil); Prof John Braithwaite (Australian National University,

Australia); Emeritus Prof Nils Christie (University of Oslo, Norway); Prof Adam Crawford (University of Leeds,

UK); Prof Chris Cunneen (James Cook University, Australia); Prof Kathleen Daly (Griffith University,

Australia); Prof Carolyn Hoyle (Oxford University, UK); Dr Michael Kilchling (Max Planck Institute, Germany);

Prof Shadd Maruna (Queen’s University Belfast, UK); Prof Brenda Morrison (Simon Fraser University,

Canada); Prof Vesna Nikolić-Ristanović (University of Belgrade, Serbia); Prof Joan Pennell (North Carolina

State University, USA); Prof Joanna Shapland (Sheffield University, UK); Prof Clifford Shearing (University of

Cape Town, South Africa); Prof Mark Umbreit (University of Minnesota, USA); Mr Dan Van Ness (Prison

Fellowship International, USA); Prof Elmar Weitekamp (University of Tübingen, Germany); Prof Howard Zehr

(Eastern Mennonite University, USA); Prof Hongwei Zhang (Guangxi University, China)

Online Publication

Further details of the Journal can be found online at:

http://www.hartjournals.co.uk/rj/index.html

Restorative Justice is published online at:

http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/hart/rj

restorative justice related research at the leuven … · 2012-06-18 · restorative justice...

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