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Balahur, Doina. Multidimensional Restorative Justice for Everyone: Romanian developments.

In this intervention, I have taken into account the fact that comparative analysis, regarding the implementation of restorative justice programs and practices, must be accomplished within the framework of the current general trend that exist in the European States, but, wider, of the developments in other cultural areas. (excerpt)

Wright, Martin. 2005. Can restorative justice reduce the burden on the criminal justice system?Paper presented to conference on ‘Forming a Ukrainian restorative justice model’, organized by Ukrainian Center for Common Ground, Kyiv, 10-11 February 2005.

This paper will consider what are the difficulties faced by the CJS, and why are the difficulties not being resolved? It will then suggest what can be done about them. Firstly, there are conventional responses, and then a different response based on restorative principles will be proposed. Finally the possible effects of such an approach will be explored, including the important role of those who administer the justice system and will be responsible for making sure that the restorative process lives up to the restorative ideal. (excerpt)

Community Justice Centers in Armenia

In 2006, two Community Justice Centers opened in Armenia to provide restorative justice services to first-time young offenders. They were developed by an NGO, Project Harmony, and Armenian law enforcement professionals and educators. In this article, Renee Berrian, programme manager with Project Harmony, provides an overview of the development of the Community Justice Centers in Armenia.

Chankova, Dobrinka. Restorative Justice in Bulgaria.

Dobrinka Chankova of the Institute For Conflict Resolution in Sofia, Bulagaria provides a look at the movement for restorative justice in her country.

Chankova, Dobrinka. Victim Offender Mediation's Potential.

Dobrinka Chankova, Director of the Institute for Conflict Resolution in Bulgaria, recently published a book on victim offender mediation. The book, written in Bulgarian, provides a history of victim offender mediation and its potential in the Bulgarian justice system. Dobrinka has provided an English summary of the book, which was published by Feneya Press in Sofia.

Czarnecka-Dzialuk, Beata and Wojcik, Dobrochna. Victim-offender mediation in Poland

The authors mark the beginning of interest in mediation in Poland in the early 1990s. A group of government employees and representatives from a non-governmental organizational helping prisoners visited German mediation centers. At the same time, several researchers and academics in criminology and especially juvenile justice became interested. They sought new ways of responding to crime – helping juveniles better and meeting the needs of victims. An organizing group worked on directions for the development of mediation programs in Poland: experiments in mediation; legal principles; training for mediators; seminars and conferences; and publication of information on mediation. Experimental programs targeted at juveniles were initiated in 1996, and other steps were taken (e.g., an international conference in 1995, and training sessions for mediators). The Codes of Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure (in force since 1998) include specific articles on victim-offender mediation. The Minister of Justice regulates the process of mediation and the people and organizations permitted to conduct mediation. The Juvenile Justice Act does not have special provisions concerning victim-offender mediation, but its flexibility permits the application of mediation in this sphere. Among criminal justice officials and legal structures there is significant support for mediation in juvenile justice. It is not clear that there is the same level of support for mediation in adult justice cases. Judges, prosecutors, and police express interest in the possibilities but also raise deep concerns about it. The authors present statistics on the number and types of mediation cases, mediation organizations, and mediators in Poland. They also provide an overview of the practice of mediation.

Anonymous. Rules Pertaining to the Unified Register of Mediators.

These rules shall set forth the terms and procedure for inclusion in the Unified Register of Mediators (hereinafter “the Register”), which shall be established and maintained by the MOJ of Bulgaria. (excerpt)

Fellegi, Borbála. Summary of the Central and Eastern European AGIS Project

Between December 2003 and December 2005 the European Forum coordinated an AGIS project focusing on ‘Meeting the challenges of introducing victim-offender mediation in Central and Eastern Europe’ with the financial support of the European Commission. The project involved experts from Albania, Austria, Belgium. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Moldova, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovenia, Turkey, Ukraine and the UK. In this article, I intend to summarise the main motivations behind starting this project. Secondly, I will give an outline of the Final Report of the project including the main issues discussed. Then some of the conclusions and points for further discussion will be presented. Finally, some of the important elements of the working process will be discussed. (excerpt)

Hrncic, Jasna and Marinovic, Tijana and Vujacic-Richer, Dusica and Marinovic, Tijana and Ilic, Gorana and Vujacic-Richer, Dusica. Promoting Good Practices of Victim Offender Mediation in Serbia: A Journey to Improving Quality Standards of Practices.

In may 2006 a New Code for Criminal Proceedings was adopted by the Serbian Parliament which would be enacted on the first of januari 2007. It would make provisions for a “settlement with the injured party” for adult offenders. Also, for the first time in Serbia, this would provide a legal basis for implementation of victim offender mediation for adult offenders. (excerpt)

Marchal, An. On the Summer School in Pilsen.

It is clear that training of mediators (volunteers and professionals) is of high importance. Much know how and experience has been developed at local, national level. But a strong need was felt to cross national boarders and to learn from others who develop training programs and standards, for example by bringing up a pool of supportive practitioners. For the first time, in June/July 2005 a European Summerschool for trainers and practitioners of victim offender mediation took place in Pilsen (Czech Republic). 24 participants of different countries participated, and worked together on different themes.(author's abstract)

Gorgenyi, Ilona. Future Mediation with Serious Offenses in Hungary.

Victim-Offender Mediation with certain types of offences will exist in Hungary from 1 January, 2007. (Act LI. 2006) Restorative criminal justice is promoted by the taking into account of the victims’ interests during the criminal procedure and the compensation of damages caused by criminal offences by the state. For the sake of this, an act was passed on the assistance of the victims of criminal offences and on the compensation of damages by the state (Act CXXXV, 2005). Furthermore, the offender is urged to restore the state prior to the damage caused by the criminal offence by the widening range of regulations making more favourable judgement possible in the Penal Code, which create a reason for the elimination of punishability or make it possible to mitigate punishment without limits, or e.g. the legal institution of the postponement of accusation in the Code of Criminal Procedure.(excerpt)

Abrashev, Boris. Setting up of Victim Offender Mediation Centre in Varna.

A training seminar for mediators and criminal justice practitioners took place in Varna (Bulgaria) on 2-3 December 2004. It was the third of a series of events, organised by the Help Foundation - a local Bulgarian NGO working in the field of crime prevention and rehabilitation of ex-offenders. The event was financially supported by the Council of Europe within the framework of Integrated Projects 2 - “Responses to Violence in Everyday Life in a Democratic Society”. (excerpt)

Koval, Roman. Forming a Ukrainian model of restorative justice.

Restorative justice was introduced in Ukraine in 2004 through a pilot programme run by the Ukrainian Centre for Common Ground (UCCG) in Kiev. The pilot programme succeeded in establishing a working partnership with the judicial system, developing a mechanism for co-operation with the courts and training a cadre of specialists in victim-offender mediation (VOM). Due to the achievements made during the pilot programme, the UCCG was encouraged by representatives of the legal system and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to expand the project to other regions of Ukraine. Since the summer of 2004, VOM programmes have been developed in five regions of the country. Co-operating with state and legal institutions in each region, Ukrainian NGOs have developed a variety of mechanisms to implement restorative justice programmes. These activities have had a significant impact. (excerpt)

Chankova, Dobrinka. Bulgarian Mediation Act - A delayed start of a new Velvet Revolution in the justice system.

The year 2004 ended happily for the mediation society in Bulgaria: on December 2nd, the Bulgarian Parliament finally adopted the long expected Mediation Act. The Act was promulgated in State Gazette N 110 on 17 December 2004 and enforced on 20 December 2004. Considering that the pre-enforcement history of the law was wrought with hurdles, this was definitely a huge success. (excerpt)

Kunová, Jana. Probation and mediation in the Slovak Republic.

This article presents a short overview of the development of the probation and mediation service in Slovakia. (excerpt)

Koval, Roman. Restorative Justice Implementation in Ukraine.

The first restorative justice project has been initiated by an NGO (Ukrainian Centre for Common Ground (UCCG)) and it is functioning on a pilot basis in Ukraine since January 2003. The Restorative justice project is designed for 3 years. It sets for itself the following tasks: establish good relations with justice system institutions; develop a system to establish rules and procedures through which cases are outsourced for mediation; train victim-offender mediators; implement the system as a pilot in Kiev; extend the project to regions outside Kiev; develop an evaluation mechanism to assess the effectiveness of the current restorative justice model; increase public awareness of the theory and practice of restorative justice through media, web-site development and training workshops for legal system representatives; use opportunities for institutionalisation at national and sub-national levels. The first year of the project was focused only on restorative justice implementation in Kiev, but now there is an intention to spread restorative justice practices into five regions in Ukraine. (excerpt)

Kregel, Stefania. Introducing restorative justice for juveniles in Bosnia and Herzegovina: a pilot project on the implementation of alternative measures and mediation.

A restorative approach in dealing with juveniles coming into conflict with the law seemed to be introduced in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) with the adoption of the law on educational recommendations. This law, included in the Criminal Code of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1998 and in Republika Srpska in 2002, gives judges and prosecutors the possibility of diverting juveniles from formal criminal prosecution in cases of criminal offences punishable by a fine or a prison sentence of up to 3 years. In such cases, if the juvenile admits to having committed the offence and is willing to make amends to the damaged party, the judge or prosecutor, in collaboration with the juvenile’s parents and institutions of social care, can order one of eight educational recommendations, including personal apology to the injured party, compensation of the damage to the injured party, community service and regular school attendance. (excerpt)

Stern, Pavel and Tkac, Marek and Gjados, Radek and Stern, Pavel. Czech justice and restorative practice.

For the Czech Republic, as for many other countries, the fall of the "iron curtain" in 1989 and the end of the cold war marked a fundamental break: a new beginning and an opportunity to create new ways of doing things. It brought far-reaching reforms in the criminal justice system, initially in Czechoslovakia, and then, following partition, in the Czech Republic. We can say that the modern history of community sanctions and measures, as well as that of the probation and mediation activities, only began in the early 1990s. The first alternative concept was introduced into the Czech criminal law in 1994 as a diversion (conditional cessation of prosecution). This step was revolutionary in this period since it introduced elements of Anglo-Saxon law into the Czech continental legal system. It also created the ideal starting point for initial mediation activity during criminal proceedings. (excerpt)

Keenan, Eamonn and Maksudov, Rustem. Achievements, issues and problems of introducing RJ into Russia.

The Moscow based Centre for Legal and Judicial Reform is the leading organisation in development of Restorative Justice across Russia. Since August 2002 they have been working with the Centre for Social Action and the Community and Criminal Justice Research Centre at DeMontfort University England. Funded by the British Government Department for International Development the organisations have been working to institutionalise Restorative Justice in Russia through a joint project, which ends in February 2005. The workshop will focus on practical examples of the situations that faced the management and staff of the joint project. The presenters will seek to share the lessons learned with reference to: the current position of young offenders in Russia; the approaches developed in partnership working; the activities of the programmes pilot projects; working with the key agencies, courts, offenders and victims; impacts to date; prospects for change and possibilities for the future. (excerpt)

Hanganu, Sorin. Ideologies in sentencing in Central and Eastern European countries.

There are a number of common features of the criminal justice systems in the countries situated in the Central and Eastern part of Europe, also known as "former socialist countries", or "former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics". They have been recently called also "Newly Independent States". The influence of the Soviet Union on these countries had imprinted some specific elements regarding the criminal policy, the system of sanctions, as well as the public opinion on crime and punishment. One can easily see in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, in the Baltic States Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania), to a certain degree also in Romania, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, etc. a highly punitive criminal sanction system, using detention as main tool of punishment and long term imprisonments resulting in high number of detained people. Accordingly, there are overcrowded prisons, increased recidivism, difficulties of reintegrating offenders into the communities and there is low community participation in the processes of offenders’ reconciliation. The table on the right presents the situation of the detention in some of the European countries. Compared to the medium level of detention in the 15 countries, i.e. in the member states of the European Union before its extension on 1st of May 2004, which constituted 97 detainees per 100.000 inhabitants on 1st of January 2004, this number is six times higher in case of Russia (584 detainees), four times higher in Ukraine (416 detainees) and twice as high in Romania (190 detainees). What are the causes of this situation? What has happened? What to do in order to achieve some beneficial changes? To answer these questions, a short overview of the criminal sanctions before the 90’s should be given. (excerpt)