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“Mediation and Community Service within the Belgian Law on Juvenile Protection”

Buonatesta, Antonio
June 4, 2015

Source: (1998) In Restorative justice for juveniles: Potentialities, risks and problems for research, ed. Lode Walgrave, 219-228. A selection of papers presented at the International Conference, Leuven, May 12-14, 1997. With a preface by Lode Walgrave. Leuven, Belgium: Leuven University Press.

The Centre GACEP is an association set up in 1984 to promote restorative measures with the Juvenile Court of the judicial area of Charleroi (Belgium). Throughout this experience, we have been able to observe that victim-offender mediation and community service are two measures based on a common principle of compensation, but presenting different characteristics and functions, which also vary according to the stage of the procedure. The purpose will be to show that an optimal integration of these measures will prove a basic requirement for a wider implementation by the Juvenile Court and for an effective restorative justice system. We will also highlight the problems we are facing in promoting such practice within a rehabilitative legal framework and the temporary solutions we have come up with in order to handle this ambiguous situation. Author’s abstract.

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