Safeguarding and Empowering Victims: Training manual on restorative justice in the Victims’ Directive

Victims of crime

Criminal justice professionals including probation staff, police, prison staff

Justice community professionals and volunteers (e.g. neighbourhood justice panels)

Local authorities and public sector bodies with criminal justice responsibilities

Youth Justice professionals (Youth Offending teams, etc)

Restorative justice providers in the private, public and public sectors including mediation, circles, conferencing and panels

Victim support organisations and individuals.

The manual uses the Victims’ Directive (Directive 2012/29/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 establishing minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime, and replacing Council Framework Decision 2001/220/JHA) as its legal and theoretical framework for achieving its objectives.

The manual includes information on the rights of the victim, a definition of restorative justice, case studies illustrating safeguarding issues and a victim assessment guide.

The training material are the result of extensive research with victims, offenders and restorative justice practitioners (Gavrielides, 2014). This was carried out in 2013-14 under the direction of Professor Theo Gavrielides.

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Table of contents

Impetus of the training manual

Definitions and introduction

Rights of the victim & the Victims’ Directive

Crime victims’ needs:

New rights and obligations:

Strengthened rights and obligations compared to the Framework Decision:

The Victims’ Directive

Introduction

Article 12 – Right to safeguards in the context of restorative justice services

Other Articles from the Directives relevant to restorative justice

Article 1 – Objectives of the Directive

Article 2 – Key Definitions

Article 18 – Right to protection

Article 22- Individual assessment of victims

Introductory Paragraph 55:

Introductory Paragraph 56:

Article 23 – Right to protection of victims with specific protection needs during criminal proceedings

Article 25 – Training of practitioners

A victim’s personal guide to restorative justice

Victim Self- Assessment toolkit

Practitioners’ Checklist Guide

Offender Self- Assessment toolkit

Practitioners Checklist Guide

Case studies

To cite this ebook: Gavrielides, T. (2019) Safeguarding and Empowering Crime Victims: Training manual: Restorative justice and the Victims’ Directive, London: RJ4All Publications. ISBN: 978-1-911634-09-6.

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.10019.12327