Inge Vanfraechem

An adventure is taking off. Why Restorative Justice: An International Journal?

The idea of creating an international journal on restorative justice is not particularly new. In the last ten years, and even before that, ideas were exchanged and plans made on a number of occasions concerning the possibility of such an initiative. Various international restorative justice organisations, practitioners and networks of researchers put forward proposals in this respect. However, the necessary human and financial resources and an appropriate environment to take up such an endeavour were simply lacking. That is, until recently. Today, following extensive consultation with and support from a large group of key international experts, but also with the professional guidance of a well-respected and visionary publisher, we are delighted to launch this journal. It is our belief that the time has come for an international medium offering in-depth, sophisticated and high-quality forms of communication about restorative justice the world over. Restorative justice has developed as a field of innovative ideas, evolving practices and research that is of crucial relevance to the way justice is done and, more broadly, to working towards a more just world. It is obvious indeed that restorative justice is expanding rapidly. Within a few decades it has grown from a little-known idiom to a broad and ever ‘widening river’ (Zehr, 2002: 62) of innovative practices and empirical evaluations, and has become a central issue in theoretical, legal and socio-ethical debates. While its origins can be traced back to seeking ‘alternative’ ways of dealing with minor juvenile delinquency in North America, nowadays restorative justice practices are applied to an increasingly wide range of crimes in all parts of the world. They are no longer limited to petty or non-violent crimes, but extend to cases of serious attacks on the physical and moral integrity of

Restorative Dimensions in Belgian Youth Justice

The revised Belgian Youth Justice Act (YJA) (2006) is featured as a case study due to the important restorative justice dimensions that it has introduced. The legal system in Belgium is dominated by a civil law regime with a deep-seated tradition in youth justice characterized by an almost exclusively ‘treatment’-oriented approach. Whilst the implementation of the revised YJA has encountered some challenges, it has also revealed that it is possible to prioritize restorative processes within a conventional civil law regime. That being said, the fundamental change that the Act aspired to achieve is only made possible by the application of additional measures.

Why restorative justice matters for criminology

This editorial is written on the occasion of the ‘official’ launch of Restorative Justice: An International Journal at the annual conference of the European Society of Criminology, held in Budapest in September 2013. While there is no clear-cut definition of criminology, for the sake of this editorial it may help to look at the topics presented in Budapest this year under the label ‘criminology’. The conference programme covers a wide range of issues, from the individual characteristics of those who have committed crimes or have become victims, through gender violence and disciplinary problems in schools, diverse violations of human rights and international crimes (such as genocide), and international criminal networks, to sentencing procedures, prevention of drug use, the impact of urban development on crime, capitalist globalisation and punitive populism and, indeed, the potential of restorative justice. Almost all scientific, social and normative disciplines are involved, and it is often difficult to indicate precisely the disciplines or specialisations that are implicated. Criminology is gradually developing its own theoretical and methodological approaches. The Budapest conference programme witnesses the wide scope of criminology as a field of scientific research and scientifically guided practice. What is common in the contributions is that they all deal with matters that are directly or indirectly related to the concept of crime and/or criminal justice. Against this background, we think that the emergence of restorative justice in recent decades is beneficial for criminology as a whole. We see at least four reasons for this, which we would like to discuss briefly in this editorial: credibility of the criminal justice system, normalisation of criminal behaviour, normative choices to be made, and the setup of a laboratory for research.

Restorative Justice and Adolescent Health

In this chapter, two questions are asked: (1) Whether a restorative justice approach is complementary to a more traditional welfare orientation to youth justice and (2) whether restorative justice responses as such can contribute to the mental health of adolescents. Welfare-oriented youth justice systems appear to be under pressure, while restorative justice is emerging as a possible third way in responding to youth crime. Additionally, we explore how restorative justice practices fit a legal and rights-based discourse, and how the underlying socio-ethical grounds of restorative justice can inspire more comprehensive reflections regarding youth and welfare. Finally, we examine the feasibility and ‘efficacy’ of restorative justice practices based on empirical research, and we describe and argue how restorative justice can contribute to the well-being of adolescents who offend.

A snapshot of Restorative Justice: An International Journal after three years

In the spring of 2013 the first issue of Restorative Justice: An International Journal (RJIJ) appeared. As we are writing this editorial, in January 2016, three volumes are out and nine issues have been published as was initially planned. As an Editorial Team we considered this to be a good moment to take a snapshot and see where we stand, to critically look back at what we started and to reflect on the future of this ‘adventure’. Our editorial in the first issue set forth great ambitions. We wrote: ‘It [the journal] aims to become the essential medium for presenting theories, visions, practices and research findings on restorative justice’ (Aertsen et al., 2013: 9). To achieve this, we created an Editorial Board and an International Advisory Board both composed of the fine fleur of restorative scholarship; we believed these would be the perfect go-betweens with the field, to ensure good international coverage and provide adequate ‘checks and balances’ for our initiative. We hoped and expected that our own position in the field, added to the Boards members’ reputations, was strong enough to motivate potential authors to submit texts and share their research in this journal. We were confident that Hart Publishing would be the perfect partner to produce a highquality journal. But we also knew that it would take some time before the journal would really reach the high standards and status it aspired to. The question now is where do we stand after three years? Are we on track? We seek answers to these questions through some quantitative data and a few qualitative comments.

Victim-Offender Mediation for Juveniles in Belgium

This chapter presents the development of Victim-Offender Mediation (VOM) for juveniles in Belgium. The structure adopted in this presentation is related to the particular institutional context of this country. Indeed, Belgium is a federal country. The State reform process, which started in the 1980s, led to an increasing independency, including a financial autonomy, of the Belgian “Communities” and “Regions”, and to a sharing of competencies between the Federal State and the respective Communities in the field of youth justice. This “communautarisation” was of great impact on the