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Elmar Weitekamp
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Elmar Weitekamp is a restorative justice pioneer in Germany. He is studying the relationship between the restorative justice movement and the human rights movement which led to truth and reconciliation commissions.
Weitekamp began his career as a Social Worker in the Department of Juvenile Welfare for the City of Möchengladbach, Germany. After earning an M.S.W. in Social Work in 1980 at Fachhochschule Niederrhein, Mönchengladbach, Germany, and an M.A. in Criminology (1982) at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA, he entered the field of criminological research at the University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany. Weitekamp then taught in various positions at the University of Pennsylvania, The Wharton School, and earned a Ph.D. in Criminology for the Graduate Group of Managerial Sciences and Applied Economics, The Wharton School (1989).
Important Idea:
Future research needs:
1. To look at ways of how to enhance and extend the use of victim-offender mediation and restorative justice schemes.
2. Natural or true experiments to determine if victim-offender mediation and restorative justice schemes work better than traditional judicial procedures.
3. Better studies to explores the indications that the recidivism rate is not worse or even better if people participate in victim-offender mediation programmes and restorative justice scheme.
4. More studies on satisfaction, both qualitative and quantitative, to enhance programs.
5. To study long-term effects of mediation or restorative practices on the victims, offenders, and all other people who are involved or excluded from such processes.
6. Implement national offices in order to monitor what is going on in the European countries with with regard to victim-offender mediation programmes and restorative justice schemes.
7. Further surveys about how the practice of victim-offender mediation and restorative justice schemes is developing.
8. Quality control for restorative justice programmes as well as for laws dealing with these matters and control after a certain amount of time.
(Adapted from "Research on Victim-offender Mediation. Findings and Needs for the Future. in, The European Forum for Victim-Offender Mediation and Restorative Justice, ed., "Victim-Offender Mediation in Europe: Making Restorative Justice Work. Leuven: Leuven University Press. 2000.)
Leading Edge. Elmar is interested in studying the connectedness and relationship between the restorative justice movement and the human rights movement which led to truth and reconciliation commissions. Although each side has much to offer and their goals seem to be the same and are restorative in nature, the many engaged persons in both fields do not know much about each other's work.
Reach Elmar Weitekamp at elmar.weitekamp@law.kuleuven.ac.be.
Bibliography
Last modified 2005-06-08 14:42
