Restorative justice from a children&#39;s rights perspective

Tim Chapman

Restorative justice from a children's rights perspective

2021, Restorative justice from a children's rights perspective

Abstract

This book addresses the relationship between restorative justice and children's rights, an issue of increasing relevance to restorative justice theory and practice that has thus far received relatively little attention. Readers will find useful reviews of international human rights documents and of legislation, policy and practices in countries in Europe, Africa, Asia, South America, North America, and Oceania. Each of the chapters demonstrates the compatibility between children's rights and restorative justice. Adopting a rights-based approach is an important means for countries that are interested in further developing restorative justice practices, as it helps restorative processes that are new to the juvenile justice system to gain credibility as well as safeguard young participants' rights in these processes. In countries where restorative justice has been developed, a rights approach can stimulate innovation and applications beyond the child justice system. The book focuses on both needs and rights of children and young people who caused harm or suffered harm. Some chapters also adopt a critical point of view to explore the tensions between rights and restorative justice in relation to colonisation, welfare models, and professional privilege.

Human rights and restorative justice are rarely brought under the same spotlight despite their normative similarities. In fact, this gap becomes even more apparent when put in the context of policy and practice internationally. Firstly, there is a developing gap between public perception and evidence-based depiction of crime. Secondly, scholarly debates are rarely reflected in criminal justice policy and legislation. This failure has an impact on recidivism, the spiralling costs of penal interventions, but most importantly on how we view our interpersonal and inter-communal relationships. This unique collection of papers brings together international leading experts in human rights and restorative justice to address a gap in the literature. From reconstructing and restorative human rights for restorative justice to addressing issues such as the standardisation of restorative justice, this edited volume is a must read for researchers, practitioners and campaigners. ————————————- Table of content Introduction & Acknowledgements Dr. Theo Gavrielides Living in a relational and moral universe Prof. Daniel Van Ness, Executive Director of the Centre for Justice and Reconciliation, Prison Fellowship International, Adjunct Professor at Pepperdine University School of Law, USA Reconstructing and restoring human rights Prof. Colin Harvey, School of Law, Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland Bridging restorative justice and human rights for youth justice Dr. Theo Gavrielides, Founder and Director of The IARS International Institute and the Restorative Justice for All institute; Adjunct Professor at the Centre for Restorative Justice of Simon Fraser University; Visiting Professor at Buckinghamshire New University. Justice, education and human rights: partnerships, policies and progress in the UK Prof. Richard Grimes, Faculty of Law, Charles University, Prague (Czech Republic), and Access to Justice consultant Human rights-based restorative justice for violence against young women: looking at Greece and the UK Dr. Theo Gavrielides and Prof. Vaso Artinopoulou, Professor of Criminology and Vice-Rector, Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences, Greece The position of juvenile offenders in Hungary: policy and practice on restorative justice and human rights Dr. Tunde Andrea Barabas, Head of Department, National Institute of Criminology, Hungary An approach to empathy building and reconciliation: the case of Turkish, Greek and Cypriot youth Prof. Maria Hadjipavlou, Department of Social and Political Science, University of Cyprus, Cyprus Restorative justice and human rights in a democratic society Prof. Lode Walgrave, Professor of Criminology at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium, and chair of the International Network for Research in Restorative Justice for Juveniles The standardisation of restorative justice Prof. Gerry Johnstone, Professor of Law, University of Hull, Director, MA in Restorative Justice Research Director, University of Hull Law School.

Rights & Restoration within Youth Justice unites the principles and practices of human rights and restorative justice. Leading international experts challenge current thinking on evidence-based youth justice policy. Through international case studies, a framework emerges for connecting human rights and restorative justice approaches to criminal justice policy and practice. Reviews “This timely collection enriches human rights and restorative justice worldwide.” ~ John Braithwaite, Australian National University and Australian Research Council Federation Fellow and Founder of RegNet “Rights & Restoration demonstrates that restorative processes are effective in producing a just response, repairing harm to victims, holding offenders accountable, and teaching values while recognizing the importance of relationships.” ~ Daniel Van Ness, Executive Director of the Centre for Justice and Reconciliation, Prison Fellowship International, and Adjunct Professor at Pepperdine University “The relationship between restorative justice and human rights has long been ignored by policy and practice, and this book bridges this gap without any geographical limitations.” ~ Brenda Morrison, Co-Director Centre for Restorative Justice, Simon Fraser University. "If policymakers have the objective of bettering justice responses for young people, then Theo Gavrielides‟ (2012) edited volume, Rights & Restoration within Youth Justiceis a must read. It makes an important contribution to youth justice. 1) It bridges a growing divide between evidence-based research and practice; 2) It promotes a participatory framework for doing democracy that necessitates youth voice; 3) It allows for complex issues – serious crimes, like domestic violence – to be responded to in complex – imaginative yet careful – ways. Gavrielides does all this by judiciously connecting the disciplines of restorative justice and human rights. The key question of the book is: how can these two fields work collaboratively to accomplish the above goal? Contributors are a blend of scholars, policymakers, and practitioners." Judah Oudshoorn, Professor of Community & Criminal Justice, Conestoga College Institute of Technology & Advanced Learning, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada Professor of Community & Criminal Justice, Conestoga College Institute of Technology & Advanced Learning, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada

Whilst practicing as a children's rights lawyer and working with victimized children, Tali Gal was confronted with the limitations of court processes. Gal witnessed first-hand the frustration of child victims and their families who felt that they weren't taken seriously by professionals and that they were not given the opportunity to have their voices heard. Furthermore, her experience as a child advocate had shown Gal that children both want to and are often capable of contributing to the decision-making on matters that impact their lives. Spurred on by these shortcomings in the criminal justice process, and convinced of the under explored capacities of young people, Gal began to explore the alternatives. In doing so she identified that despite the upward trajectory in attention given to the rights of children and also to the rights of victims, children who are also victims are more likely to be considered as targets for protection rather than as holders of rights. The needs-rights model presented in Gal's book has a strong theoretical underpinning. It encompasses legal and psychosocial discourses in its consideration of both children's rights and needs. The model serves as a means through which the criminal justice systems can be analyzed, and also as a tool with which to facilitate the development of new, holistic inclusive and restorative responses to child victimization. Gal begins the book by discussing the victimization of children. Drawing on the developmental victimology work of David Finkelhor, she explains that victimization experiences are extremely common in children's lives. Indeed, children experience more victimization than any other group, yet their experiences are often considered less seriously than similar victimization experienced by adults. In the second chapter, Gal introduces the field of children's rights, leading the reader through the discourse in a comprehensive yet concise way. In doing so, she begins her argument for the relevance of a needs-rights model. As could be expected, attention is given to the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. A particular focus is placed on the four guiding principles: nondiscrimination, the best interests of the child, life, survival and development, and participation. Attention is also given to the two provisions that are associated with victimization specifically. Article 19 is concerned with prevention of and protection from victimization by caregivers. Article 39 is concerned with the right to access rehabilitation. These four principles and two provisions are combined to form the 'web of children's rights' that lies at the core of the model. Within this discourse, there is already attention given to the interaction between children's rights and children's needs or, as Gal puts it, 'the interrelationship between an empirical investigation of children's needs, on the one hand, and a normative analysis of their basic rights, on the other' (55). The consideration of children's needs is extended in the third chapter. Chapter 3 sees a deeper exploration of childhood victimization and its impact. Empirical findings from psychosocial literature are examined in an attempt to understand the needs brought to you by CORE View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk

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