Restorative Conversations Community of Restorative Researchers

On the fifth episode of Restorative Conversations, Tania Nascimento, International Advisory Board member and Project Developer at the Community of Restorative Researchers, interviews Mary Munro, in Glasgow, Scotland. Mary is a Senior Visiting Fellow at the University of Strathclyde's Law School, and the Managing Editor of Scottish Justice Matters. On this podcast, they discuss the nature of restorative justice, as well as its use in Scotland and the Scottish RJ Forum. They also talk about the EU directive on the rights of victims of crime and prospects for criminal justice reform more broadly.

To find out more about Scottish Justice Matters, see the link below:

http://scottishjusticematters.com/

On the fourth episode of Restorative Conversations, my guest Dr. Esther Friedman and I are at Bar-Ilan University in Tel-Aviv, Israel, where we are about to present at the first international conference on Positive Criminology and Positive Victimology. Dr. Friedman is Assistant Prof. of Social Work at Linnaeus University, Sweden, and a member of the International Advisory Board of the Community of Restorative Researchers. On the podcast, we discuss the role of restorative justice in social work, her work on intercultural communication, and her membership of national restorative justice fora in Sweden and Israel.

*Apologies for short periods of poor sound quality - this was my fault entirely for sub-optimal setting up of the microphone*

On the third episode of Restorative Conversations, I interview Prof. Ivo Aertsen, Director of the Leuven Institute of Criminology, Editor-in-Chief of the new academic journal Restorative Justice, and former Chair of the European Forum for Restorative Justice. We speak about his recent research, his involvement in instigating the use of restorative justice in Belgium, and the current situation regarding the use of restorative justice in that country. We also talk about the EFRJ and the new journal, as well as the future of restorative justice in Europe.

On the second episode of Restorative Conversations, I interview Andrew Hancock, Restorative Justice Coordinator for Darlington (North East England), and Stephen Twist, a barrister and restorative practitioner in Darlington. We talk about the growth of RJ in Darlington in recent years, the development of the Darlington Restorative Justice Hub (formerly Darlington Neighbourhood Resolution), the recruitment, training and supervision of volunteer facilitators, and the differences between practicing law and practicing restorative justice.

The image accompanying this podcast dates from November 2014, when Dr. Evelyn Zellerer (second closest to the camera on the left) came to Darlington to train Andrew (closest on the left), Stephen (closest on the right), and a number of other volunteer facilitators and criminal justice practitioners in Circles processes.

Their website is currently under development, but there are a number of articles in online, local newspapers where you can find out about them, including these:

http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/11637950.Darlington_volunteers_hailed_as_pioneers_for_restorative_justice/

http://www.darlingtonandstocktontimes.co.uk/news/11152483.Darlington_restorative_justice_scheme_praised_for_its_effectiveness_by_Ministry_of_Justice/

Thanks to www.freesfx.co.uk for the music and to Joel Wright for his help with the editing!