TY - JOUR
T1 - Restorative justice in Belgian prisons
T2 - The results of an empirical research
AU - Stamatakis, Nikolaos
AU - Vandeviver, Christophe
N1 - Funding Information:
Nowadays, various justice systems tend to shift their emphasis from the rehabilitation and human treatment of prisoners to ensure that prisoners comply with the conditions of their parole order [108]. Amid this global tendency and in line with the constant escalation of the prison population in Belgium, a research project financially supported by the Belgian Ministry of Scientific Policy entitled ‘Key stones for a coherent restorative and victim-oriented justice policy’ was born [25]. One part of the research concentrated on the development of a restorative and victim-oriented correctional service. The project referred to the correctional policy statement of the Minister of Justice of June 19, 1996, in which the primary goal of the correctional service (safe and humane corrections aiming at the social reintegration of the convicted person) has been for the first time linked with the ideas of restorative justice (restitution, redress and reparation). It concentrated on the development of concrete restorative actions in correctional facilities where practitioners saw what could be done in each institution. It also looked at complex issues like financial compensation,1 and how to obtain adequate information on which to base parole decisions, as well as at victims and victim services. To achieve this, the involvement of prison staff, besides victim assistance agencies and offender support was seen as a major point in the development of restorative and victim oriented corrections [100].
PY - 2013/2
Y1 - 2013/2
N2 - Justice - when spelled with a capital 'J' - should be discursive [31] and based on equal respect ([40]: 206, 210) allowing a plurality of voices within the discourse. Particularly in the present research, this thread of pluralism is important. Prisoners' voices have rarely been heard. Yet, if we wish to be true to the principle that restorative justice is discursive, it follows that the discourse is not complete without also accommodating their voices. To date, little research attention has been paid to the inner motivations of imprisoned offenders for willing to participate in restorative justice initiatives, as well as to their perceptions about their relationships with the victim and the community and the impact of religion on them. Hence, the present empirical study, conducted in several prisons across Belgium, endeavours to shed light on these aspects that have been theoretically overlooked, providing valuable information at policy-level about the design of future restorative justice programmes.
AB - Justice - when spelled with a capital 'J' - should be discursive [31] and based on equal respect ([40]: 206, 210) allowing a plurality of voices within the discourse. Particularly in the present research, this thread of pluralism is important. Prisoners' voices have rarely been heard. Yet, if we wish to be true to the principle that restorative justice is discursive, it follows that the discourse is not complete without also accommodating their voices. To date, little research attention has been paid to the inner motivations of imprisoned offenders for willing to participate in restorative justice initiatives, as well as to their perceptions about their relationships with the victim and the community and the impact of religion on them. Hence, the present empirical study, conducted in several prisons across Belgium, endeavours to shed light on these aspects that have been theoretically overlooked, providing valuable information at policy-level about the design of future restorative justice programmes.
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U2 - 10.1007/s10611-012-9408-8
DO - 10.1007/s10611-012-9408-8
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84872943722
SN - 0925-4994
VL - 59
SP - 79
EP - 111
JO - Crime, Law and Social Change
JF - Crime, Law and Social Change
IS - 1
ER -