Source: (2008) Report of the fifth conference of the European Forum for Restorative Justice, Building restorative justice in Europe: cooperation between the public, policy makers, practitioners and researchers, Verona.
Restorative practices have grown in The Netherlands, but it is too early to be really optimistic. The EU Frame work decision and project evaluations have led to a policy decision that all victims of a criminal offence get an offer of victim-offender mediation in 2007, but many other restorative justice initiatives that have been started are not continued or have to find financial means by them selves. The government is still reluctant in making more long-term decisions on continuation of successful projects and experiments done for example in the youth detention centres or at the level of the public prosecutors. In this presentation we will give an overview of recent developments in the Netherlands with Restorative Justice practices for Juveniles, including Halt, a diversionary measure for juveniles for minor offences which consists of several important restorative elements. We will focus on the question where we stand, and on the current political and policy context related to juvenile justice. We also focus on ways of encouraging the cooperation between practitioners, policy makers and researchers in order to bring restorative practices with youngsters important steps further. (excerpt)
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