Raising awareness of prisoners about restorative justice and victims: An example of the program implemented in the women’s prison in Serbia
Restorative justice is implemented in a variety of fields, contexts and situations. One possible way of implementing restorative justice is seen in introducing restorative approaches into the prison settings. It is argued that restorative justice can add more humanity into the prison system...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Victimology Society of Serbia and Prometej-Beograd
2018-01-01
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| Series: | Temida |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.doiserbia.nb.rs/img/doi/1450-6637/2018/1450-66371803385C.pdf |
| _version_ | 1819289719840702464 |
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| author | Ćopić Sanja Nikolić-Ristanović Vesna |
| author_facet | Ćopić Sanja Nikolić-Ristanović Vesna |
| author_sort | Ćopić Sanja |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Restorative justice is implemented in a variety of fields, contexts and
situations. One possible way of implementing restorative justice is seen in
introducing restorative approaches into the prison settings. It is argued
that restorative justice can add more humanity into the prison system; it may
help in treatment of prisoners and contribute to their preparation for the
release and easier reintegration and social inclusion. Introducing victims’
perspective, either through their direct involvement in restorative justice
programs in prisons or through working on raising awareness of inmates about
victims and their rights, needs and feelings, contributes to increase of the
visibility of victims, their empowerment and healing. Taking that as a
starting point, the article aims at presenting one possible way of
introducing restorative justice into the prison setting through raising
awareness programs for prisoners about restorative justice and victims’
rights, which are implemented in some European and non-European countries. It
particularly focuses on presenting the program on raising awareness about the
impact of crime on a victim and on restorative justice, which was developed
by the Victimology Society of Serbia as a part of its long-term advocacy and
support to female prisoners. This is an integrated, gender-sensitive program
developed in the spirit of positive criminology and victimology. It was
piloted in 2015 in the women’s prison in Serbia. The program was implemented
in a form of a series of six workshops followed by evaluation interviews with
female prisoners who took part in the entire program. The program evaluation
suggested that participants improved their overall knowledge related to
victims; they also showed the desire to apologize to person(s) they had hurt
and they recognized that the program had influenced them to change in a
positive way, especially in terms of diverting from hurting others by a crime
or other harmful acts. Participants also recognized the potential of
restorative mechanisms in their relationship with their own victims, but also
with other people. Evaluation showed that participants used learnt skills
after the program ended, particularly communication skills in the spirit of
restorative justice, focusing on the present moment and yoga nidra.
Development and delivery of the victim awareness raising program piloted in
the women’s prison in Serbia proved to be valuable learning experience.
Keeping in mind lessons learnt, it is obvious that there is a need for
broader use of restorative justice approaches in prison settings for both
adults and juveniles in Serbia. [Project of the Serbian Ministry of
Education, Science and Technological Development, Grant no. 179044:
Metodologija evidentiranja kriminaliteta kao osnova efikasnih mera za njegovo
suzbijanje i prevenciju] |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-24T03:11:19Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ca8a717404fb441cb10ee0f9c8e4716d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1450-6637 2406-0941 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-24T03:11:19Z |
| publishDate | 2018-01-01 |
| publisher | Victimology Society of Serbia and Prometej-Beograd |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Temida |
| spelling | doaj.art-ca8a717404fb441cb10ee0f9c8e4716d2022-12-21T17:17:49ZengVictimology Society of Serbia and Prometej-BeogradTemida1450-66372406-09412018-01-0121338541010.2298/TEM1803385C1450-66371803385CRaising awareness of prisoners about restorative justice and victims: An example of the program implemented in the women’s prison in SerbiaĆopić Sanja0Nikolić-Ristanović Vesna1Institute of Criminological and Sociological Research, Belgrade + Victimology Society of Serbia, BelgradeFaculty for Special Education and Rehabilitation, Belgrade + Victimology Society of Serbia, BelgradeRestorative justice is implemented in a variety of fields, contexts and situations. One possible way of implementing restorative justice is seen in introducing restorative approaches into the prison settings. It is argued that restorative justice can add more humanity into the prison system; it may help in treatment of prisoners and contribute to their preparation for the release and easier reintegration and social inclusion. Introducing victims’ perspective, either through their direct involvement in restorative justice programs in prisons or through working on raising awareness of inmates about victims and their rights, needs and feelings, contributes to increase of the visibility of victims, their empowerment and healing. Taking that as a starting point, the article aims at presenting one possible way of introducing restorative justice into the prison setting through raising awareness programs for prisoners about restorative justice and victims’ rights, which are implemented in some European and non-European countries. It particularly focuses on presenting the program on raising awareness about the impact of crime on a victim and on restorative justice, which was developed by the Victimology Society of Serbia as a part of its long-term advocacy and support to female prisoners. This is an integrated, gender-sensitive program developed in the spirit of positive criminology and victimology. It was piloted in 2015 in the women’s prison in Serbia. The program was implemented in a form of a series of six workshops followed by evaluation interviews with female prisoners who took part in the entire program. The program evaluation suggested that participants improved their overall knowledge related to victims; they also showed the desire to apologize to person(s) they had hurt and they recognized that the program had influenced them to change in a positive way, especially in terms of diverting from hurting others by a crime or other harmful acts. Participants also recognized the potential of restorative mechanisms in their relationship with their own victims, but also with other people. Evaluation showed that participants used learnt skills after the program ended, particularly communication skills in the spirit of restorative justice, focusing on the present moment and yoga nidra. Development and delivery of the victim awareness raising program piloted in the women’s prison in Serbia proved to be valuable learning experience. Keeping in mind lessons learnt, it is obvious that there is a need for broader use of restorative justice approaches in prison settings for both adults and juveniles in Serbia. [Project of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Grant no. 179044: Metodologija evidentiranja kriminaliteta kao osnova efikasnih mera za njegovo suzbijanje i prevenciju]http://www.doiserbia.nb.rs/img/doi/1450-6637/2018/1450-66371803385C.pdfrestorative justiceprisonraising awareness about victimsVictimology Society of SerbiaSerbia |
| spellingShingle | Ćopić Sanja Nikolić-Ristanović Vesna Raising awareness of prisoners about restorative justice and victims: An example of the program implemented in the women’s prison in Serbia Temida restorative justice prison raising awareness about victims Victimology Society of Serbia Serbia |
| title | Raising awareness of prisoners about restorative justice and victims: An example of the program implemented in the women’s prison in Serbia |
| title_full | Raising awareness of prisoners about restorative justice and victims: An example of the program implemented in the women’s prison in Serbia |
| title_fullStr | Raising awareness of prisoners about restorative justice and victims: An example of the program implemented in the women’s prison in Serbia |
| title_full_unstemmed | Raising awareness of prisoners about restorative justice and victims: An example of the program implemented in the women’s prison in Serbia |
| title_short | Raising awareness of prisoners about restorative justice and victims: An example of the program implemented in the women’s prison in Serbia |
| title_sort | raising awareness of prisoners about restorative justice and victims an example of the program implemented in the women s prison in serbia |
| topic | restorative justice prison raising awareness about victims Victimology Society of Serbia Serbia |
| url | http://www.doiserbia.nb.rs/img/doi/1450-6637/2018/1450-66371803385C.pdf |
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