Germany

Provides a listing of articles on restorative justice developments in Germany. Articles appear in the order in which they were added to the site with the most recent appearing first.

. The practice of "Tater-Opfer-Ausgleich" in Germany.

The relevance of Section 46a of the German Criminal Code (Strafgesetzbuch, StGB) in the practice of restorative justice in Germany is of an indirect nature. Section 46a of the StGB gives the legal definition of "Tater-Opfer-Ausgleich" (TOA), thereby acknowledging TOA as a legal institution. It obliges the court to take into consideration whether any form of TOA has taken place in a case. Otherwise the court risks the cessation of its judgment. But usually the referral of cases to restorative justice schemes does not take place on the legal basis described in Section 46a of the StGB. The majority of cases are referred to restorative justice schemes by the prosecutor before accusation on the basis of sections 153a of the German Code of Criminal Procedure and 45 of the Juvenile Criminal Court as a means of diversion. (excerpt)

Kerner, Hans-Jürgen and Weitekamp, Elmar G. M. Restorative Justice in Context: International Practice and Directions

This book provides a review of the international practice and directions of restorative justice developed from papers and discussions at the Fourth International Conference on Restorative Justice for Juveniles, held in Tubingen, Germany, on October 1-4, 2000. Abstract courtesy on National Criminal Justice Reference Service, www.ncjrs.org.

Hagemann, Otmar. Victimization in Prison

Otmar Hagemann, a sociologist at a university in Germany, in this paper looks at the issue of male prisoners as victims of violence and degrading treatment in prisons. To do this he sketches the Mare Balticum project. He and colleagues from several countries that border the Baltic Sea are researching conditions of life and work in closed prisons for sanctioned offenders. From the data collected the researchers are developing a picture of victimization in prison. Hagemann discusses data on inter-prisoner violence and data on structural violence against prisoners. This leads to more detailed examination of specific categories of violence and their effects on victims/prisoners in prison settings. Finally, Hagemann presents an alternative model of a restorative prison.

Friedman, Maggie and Hamber, Brandon and Maepa, Traggy and Friedman, Maggie and Mosikare, Ntombi and Hamber, Brandon. Speaking Out: The role of the Khulumani Victim Support Group in dealing with the past in South Africa

Khulumani is a self-help survivor support group that was started in 1995 in South Africa. The name Khulumani means “speak out�? in Zulu. The group began in anticipation of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). One of the purposes of the TRC was to offer space to survivors to tell their stories of past violations and be heard. The TRC also had the power to grant amnesty to perpetrators of political atrocities who fully disclosed all the details of actions. This so-called trade of truth for justice was supposed to help uncover all the truth about the past and give victims answers to their unresolved cases. The TRC also had to make recommendations with regard to granting reparations to those, and their families, who were found to be victims of murder, attempted murder, torture or severe ill-treatment between March 1960 and May 1995 in South Africa. (excerpt)

Compton, Randy and Jones, Tricia S. Kids Working It Out: Strategies and Stories for Making Peace in Our Schools

In recent years, a number of deadly incidents in schools in, for example, the United States and Germany have dramatized issues of conflict and violence in school settings. With all of this in view, Tricia Jones and Randy Compton, editors of this book, offer resources in conflict resolution education for parents, educators, and policymakers looking for ways to help young people learn constructive responses to conflict, build positive relationships, and promote just societies. The book consists of two overarching parts with chapters on particular topics in each part. Part one, more theoretical, covers the need for and potential of conflict resolution education. Part two, more practical, deals with "what works" - that is, with success stories in conflict resolution education. In each part chapters are written by experts and practitioners in the field. Additionally, in part two, each chapter ends with personal reflections by participants in conflicts and conflict resolution processes. Appendices provide information on additional books, publications, websites, organizations, and programs of relevance to conflict resolution in school settings.

Gerzon, Mark. Foreword

Mark Gerzon begins his foreword to this book by recounting a terrible incidence of school violence in Erfurt, Germany, in 2002. After killing a number of teachers, students, and a police officer, the student who committed the murders was stopped by one of his teachers. The student then killed himself. Gerzon makes the point that the teacher was able to intervene nonviolently and end the violence because of his teacher-student relationship with the disturbed young man. Gerzon goes on to sketch some of the more ordinary yet still troubling problems of conflict and violence in the lives of young people and in schools. Against this background, Gerzon welcomes the writings in this book as significant contributions to conflict resolution education in school settings for parents and educators.

Eckert, Roland and et al. First Periodical Report on Crime and Crime Control in Germany

The objective of this report is to put together the most comprehensive picture possible of the crime situation in Germany. For the first time in a report, it will draw together findings taken from the existing pool of official data, particularly from data provided by the criminal statistics of the police and by the statistics of the administration of criminal justice. At the same time, the report will use as a reference the results of scientific research into the manifestation and causes of criminality. Aided by more extensive findings, taken particularly from the area of research into undetected crime as well as from interviews with victims, this portrait of the crime situation will be brought into a more scientific light and will be complemented by knowledge gained from the victims’ perspective. The analysis of material from existing data will take place for Germany as a whole. (excerpt)

Pelikan, Christa. Conflict Resolution between Victims and Offenders in Austria and in the Federal Republic of Germany

As Christa Pelikan observes, juvenile justice and the juvenile court often serve as a field of experimentation for the criminal justice in general. She speculates that reforms and new ideas grow more easily in the juvenile justice as such changes do not seem to pose the same kind of threat for the established system as a whole. With this in mind, Pelikan looks at conflict resolution between victims and offenders in juvenile justice systems in Austria and in the Federal Republic of Germany. Through this paper, she examines the respective legal frameworks for juvenile justice and conflict resolution, statistics on juvenile offending, specific conflict resolution projects, examples of conflict resolution cases, and theoretical concepts and empirical data with respect to conflict resolution.

Trenczek, Thomas. Victim-offender-mediation (in Germany)- ADR under the shadow of the criminal law?

As Thomas Trenczek comments, mediation is often presented as an alternative to the adversarial court process, yet in fact it generally functions within the "shadow of the law." This is especially true for mediation schemes within a criminal justice context. In Germany, unlike in other countries, mediation is most frequently used in the sphere of criminal justice rather than in the sphere of civil law. Against this background, Trenczek examines victim-offender mediation in the criminal law context in Germany. He argues that the conceptual orientation and application of victim-offender mediation within the German criminal justice system presents certain dangers for both the criminal justice system and for mediation schemes. With this in mind, he focuses in particular on dangers to the implementation of victim-offender mediation in Germany.

Delattre, Regina and Delattre, Gerd. TOA infodienst

DBH is the German Association for Social Work, Criminal Law, and Crime Policy. DBH sponsors a project for victim-offender mediation and conflict resolution in Germany. In German, the project is called Servicebüro für Täter-Opfer-Ausgleich und Konflictschlichtung (or, TOA-Servicebüro). In this publication, Gerd and Regina Delattre include several short pieces that cover the following areas: the status of victim-offender mediation in Germany; the work of TOA-Servicebüro; perspectives on relevant legislation; a press statement; training courses; and various news items concerning the work of the bureau.

Delattre, Regina and Delattre, Gerd. TOA-Servicebüro: Objectives, tasks, activities

DBH is the German Association for Social Work, Criminal Law, and Crime Policy. The TOA-Servicebüro – Servicebüro für Täter-Opfer-Ausgleich und Konflictschlichtung – is a project of DBH in Cologne, Germany. TOA-Servicebüro seeks to deal with conflict and crime through victim-offender mediation rather than through traditional criminal justice processes. This document summarizes the objectives, tasks, and activities of the TOA- Servicebüro. It includes the historical background to TOA-Servicebüro, target groups for the service bureau’s work, and highlights of its work.

Hartmann, Arthur and Kerner, Hans-Jürgen. Victim-Offender Mediation in Germany

In this article, Arthur Hartmann and Hans-Jürgen Kerner report on the history and current status of victim-offender mediation (VOM) in Germany. The practical implementation of victim-offender mediation in Germany began in 1985 with a few experimental projects concentrating on juveniles or adolescents. In the next decade there was a rapid rise in the number of new VOM projects. However, most of them had only a small caseload. At the same time that VOM developed in practice, a legal framework for VOM in Germany was enacted. Against this background, the authors provide key statistics on VOM in Germany with respect to numbers and types of cases, acceptance among victims and offenders, practices or processes, content of VOM agreements, and outcomes.

Delattre, Regina. Training for Mediators and a Training Course for Prosecutors and Judges. The Results of an AGIS Project

Reports on four seminars held in Leuven, Belgium, and Trier Germany, between December 2003 and February 2004, involving experienced mediators, trainers, prosecutors and judges from several European countries. Participants exchanged training models, and discussed differences in legal frameworks with a view to development of a training course for prosecutors and judges.

Endalew, Tsega. Luba Basa and Harma Hodha: Traditional Mechanisms of Conflict Resolution in Metekkel, Ethiopia

Metekkel, a vast low-lying territory on the Ethio-Sudanese frontier, is inhabited by the Gumuz, Shinasha, Oromo, Agew and Amhara who continued their interactions for their daily activities. Although they have their own respective traditional mechanisms of conflict resolutions they gradually adopted Oromo traditional institutions including the Luba Baasa, Harma Hodhaa and Micu. Luba Baasa (lit. to set free) and Harma Hodhaa (lit. Breast - suckling) are Oromoo names and are used by the Gumuz and Shinasha who also speak Oromoo. Luba Baasa is more of preventive mechanism and gradually establishes ethnic integration through adoption. The Harma Hodhaa (Harma hosisuu/hodhuu), however, establishes a kind of parent - child relationships between ethnic groups, individuals as well as within groups. The Gumuz or the Shinasha individual either representing his clan or family is supposed to suckle a breast or anointed thumb of the Oromo individual and becomes his xe2x80x98son.xe2x80x99 The whole group to which the individual belongs becomes xe2x80x98sonsxe2x80x99 to the xe2x80x98breast Father.xe2x80x99 xe2x80x98The xe2x80x98Fatherxe2x80x99 agrees to treat the xe2x80x98sonxe2x80x99 in the same way as his natural son (naturalization) and provide all the necessary material assistance. In Oromo society, some Oromo or non-Oromo groups are considered as xe2x80x98castesxe2x80x98 and despised until they are assimilatedxe2x80xa6. They have no peaceful interaction with each other and no mutual support in agricultural activities and so on. However, rural societies particularly agricultural communities need cooperation, and for each daily interactions and mutual coexistence they should, therefore, come into terms. These institutions are intra as well as inter ethnic conflict resolution principles and are widely applied in many parts of Ethiopia; and can even meet demands out side Africa. If refurbished, the findings show that, they can be of paramount importance to policy makers and practitioners. (excerpt)

Schiff, Mara F.. Redefining Responsibility in Restorative Justice

abstract unavailable

Umbreit, Mark S. Victim offender reconciliation program

abstract unavailable

Whyte, Alick. Policing Incivilities in Germany

While many offenses are major in impact, many others can basically be considered as incivilities. These include, for example, graffiti, vandalism, aggressive begging, and disorderly conduct in public. They are fairly common in every day life. As Alick Whyte remarks, they are often trivial inconveniences, offending our sensibilities and our desire for order. Nevertheless, they can cause actual harm (e.g., property damage), and they can degrade the quality of public, community life. Against this background, Whyte looks at the nature of the response and methods employed by the authorities in Germany to the problem of incivilities. This examination includes discussion of the following: public order, zero tolerance policing, and “broken windows" theory; the implementation of zero tolerance and “broken windows" theory in Germany; and comparison of the German experience with all of this to the British experience.

Poppe, Ulrike and Offe, Claus. Transitional Justice in the German Democratic Republic and in Unified Germany

A new political regime does not spring from nothing; it emerges from an old or previous regime, write Claus Offe and Ulrike Poppe. Hence, the new regime must take into account the people and conditions of the regime passing or recently passed away, and it must provide some rationale for its relationship or approach to the former regime. These imperatives are especially true for a new democracy. Where an authoritarian regime might be able to repress and significantly eliminate traces of its predecessor regime, an emerging democracy must reckon more openly with the past injustices. Moreover, a new democracy must do so in ways congruent with and supportive of its presently avowed values and laws, and of its future stability and aims. As Offe and Poppe note, this threefold temporal reference – past, present, and future – is constitute of the problems of transitional justice in new democracies. With all of this in mind, then, Offe and Poppe concentrate on how backward-looking policies and practices evolved in unified Germany to deal with the past of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) after the GDR dissolved as a distinct German political entity. They look specifically at questions of interpretation of the GDR, key acts and actors in the history of the GDR, and issues related to legal and political sanctions.

Miers, David and Willemsens, Jolien. Mapping Restorative Justice: Developments in 25 European Countries

In 2001, the Home Office in London published An International Review of Restorative Justice by David Miers. Miers compared and contrasted the principle features of restorative justice provision in sixteen European and common law jurisdictions. In that one of its objectives is to the promote the international exchange of information, the European Forum for Victim-Offender Mediation and Restorative Justice obtained permission from the Home Office to keep the review up to date. This book, edited by David Miers and Jolien Willemsens, provides that update and expands the review to twenty five countries in Europe. Of the twenty five countries, full accounts of restorative justice are given for seventeen: Austria; Belgium; Czech Republic; Denmark; England and Wales; Finland; France; Germany; Italy; Luxembourg; Netherlands; Norway; Poland; Portugal; Slovenia; Spain; and Sweden. Short accounts of restorative justice are given for the following eight countries: Albania; Bulgaria; Hungary; Iceland; Ireland; Moldova; Scotland; and Ukraine. The structure of the accounts covers this information: legal base; scope; implementation; evaluation; contact address; published material. The book overall contains the descriptive accounts of each jurisdiction’s provision; analysis of the principal features of the legal base, scope, and implementation; discussion of the findings in terms of the wider evaluation of restorative justice and victim-offender mediation; and useful appendices.

Sivan, Emmanuel and Bargal, David. Leadership and Reconciliation.

This chapter discusses the role of national political leadership in reconciliation. The examples of Germany-France, Germany-Israel, and Spain are used as historical case studies in the analysis of top-down leadership. The authors provide and explain an analytical mapping sentence that draws on leadership theory and social psychological literature. One of its components utilizes the four components of transformational leadership behaviour outlined by Bass (1997): idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration. These are illustrated in the examples of De Gaulle, Ben-Gurion, Juan Carlos, and Adenauer. The authors also examine the relationship between reconciliation and leadership with regard to the bases of social power and processes of change in the three cases.