European best practices of restorative justice in the criminal procedure Prof.dr Doina Balahur RESTORATIVE JUSTICE DEVELOPMENTS IN ROMANIA

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European best practices of
restorative justice in the criminal procedure
Prof.dr Doina Balahur RESTORATIVE JUSTICE
DEVELOPMENTS IN ROMANIA Alexandru Ioan Cuza
University Centre for Social
Management and Community Development Budapest,
28 of April, 2009

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RJ and the Romanian Reform of the Justice System

• The development of the system of alternative
  resolution in Romania is closely connected to the
  Reform of Romanian Justice System
• The steps taken by Romania in its way towards
  Reform of the Justice System have been
  constantly taken at the pressure of the
  international and European organizations (The
  Council of Europe, UNO, EU etc)

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Priorities of the Reform

• 1. The observance of the Human Rights in formal
  procedures of conflict resolution especially in
  criminal justice
• 2. The better implementation of the principle of
  proportionality and closely connected, more
  flexibility and diversity of the criminal
  penalties and measures.

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Priorities of the Reform

• 3. The integration of the Acquis communautaire in
  the field of the protection of the victims of
  crime and the improvement of victims standing in
  criminal procedure.

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Priorities of the Reform

• 4. The dropping down of the number of the
  incarcerated persons especially juveniles
• 5. The improvement of the quality of the activity
  of the courts by the reducing of the caseload

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Caseload some statistics

• Caseloads grew constantly during the 1990s. If in
  1990 1,513 judges had 589,660 files (civil and
  criminal cases) with a caseload of 390 files per
  judge, in 2003, 3,557 judges had 1,453,776 files,
  with a caseload per judge of 409 files'
• The effectiveness of the justice system was among
  the lowest in Europe, constantly monitored by the
  European Commission.

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The general strategy of RJs implementation

• Like other social-legal institutions, the
  development and implementation of restorative
  justice practices in Romania could be analyzed
  from two linked perspectives.
• One is a bottom-up perspective, that sees these
  practice promoted by civil society and supported
  by academic groups the other is a top-down, in
  which they are framed by different policies and
  legal regulation.
• It has often been the case that within a process
  of reform, the Romanian authorities have agreed
  to changes in the administration of justice that
  have developed, at least initially, without their
  influence.6 From this point of view, Romania is
  not an exception.
• The introduction and diffusion of alternative
  justice strategies in Romania followed the common
  model identified in the countries of the European
  Union

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Restorative Justice in Romania The Legal Frame

• Law nr.217/2003 regarding Domestic Violence
  provides, in Chapter V (art.19-22), for mediation
  in cases of domestic violence.
• Article 19 states that at the request of the
  parties, cases of domestic violence can be
  referred to mediation.
• For this purpose the competent persons to deal
  with such cases will counsel the parties.
• Conciliation in these cases may be undertaken,
  according to art.20, either by a meeting of the
  family (the Family Council) or by an authorized
  mediator.

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RESTORATIVE JUSTICE IN ROAMANIA The legal frame

• In May 2006 the Romanian Parliament enacted the
  Law regarding the Mediation and the Regulation of
  the Profession of Mediator.
• It was adopted within the framework of the
  negotiations for accession to the EU as part of
  the obligation to implement the acquis
  communautaire.
• This new law is closely bound to the values and
  principles containd in the various
  recommendations on restorative justice declared
  by the EU, the Council of Europe, and the UNO.

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The Reintegrative Self-Esteem The Theoretical
Framework of the Experiment A.Bandura
(self-efficacy theory) the 4 Is model

1. Banduras self-efficacy model provided the
   conceptual frame of a wide variety of programmes
   aiming at improving the behavior and attitude
   towards education etc.
2. According to the American psychologist the
   perceived self-efficacy is defined as people's
   beliefs about their capabilities to produce
   designated levels of performance that exercise
   influence over events that affect their lives.
3. Self-efficacy beliefs determine how people feel,
   think, motivate themselves and behave. (Albert
   Bandura, 1994).

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Brief description of the experiment/ Problems

• The experiment has been organized at the request
  of the local Scholar Inspectorate which was
  confronted with massive turnover of the
  professors due to the violence of the scholars
  and aggressive environment.
• Professors appreciated that their physical
  integrity and mental health were in danger.

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The groups integrated in the experiment/ the
profile of the pupils

• Integrated two groups of scholars from two
  Industrial high schools (N50 boys)
• Among them
• 35 had one unemployed parent.
• 10 had both parents working abroad
• 5 having both parents unemployed
• 20 were under probation (for theft)

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Steps of the experiment I) The school I would
like to have

• I) The integration of the two groups, for one
  semester, in a school recognized for the level of
  excellence of the scholars as well as for the
  academic / friendly atmosphere.
• On Saturdays the two groups came back to their
  school for different cultural activities (in
  order to stimulate a permanent comparison)

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Steps of the experiment II) what can I do in
order to improve my school results and
environment /1

• First, the pupils decided that their school needs
  a green area and with the support of the
  managerial team they made small flower garden.
• Decided to decorate the halls of the school with
  small paintings made by them.

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Steps of the experiment II) what can I do in
order to improve my school results and
environment /2

• No more violence in my school they have
  developed a mentorship programme for the
  smaller pupils aiming at preventing fights,
  thefts among them at curbing the violence in
  relations with teachers.
• They have thought to a mentorship programme
  aiming to support the smaller scholars to improve
  their time management / involving them in
  cultural and sportive activities etc

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Steps of the experiment III) Leading the Change

• The pupils who were traditionally considered
  violent, and who received an aggressive feed back
  have been offered a leading position which
  supposed trust end responsibility.

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Steps of the experiment Preventing and solving
conflicts through restorative practice (circles)

• The students in the two groups have been trained
  in order to be able to initiate and run
  restorative circles for conflict resolution and
  prevention.

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Evaluation and multiplicative effects

• After two years the number of events dropped
  down with almost 50
• It dropped down the number of scholars in
  conflict with criminal law
• The educational results improved significantly
  not only for the pupils in the experiment but
  also for their peers.

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THANK YOU

• Doina Balahur contact details
• dbalahur_at_uaic.ro
• doinabalahur_at_gmail.com