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Restorative Justice

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Explaining Restorative Justice in Colombia

Dan Van Ness, PFI’s Executive Director of the Centre for Justice and Reconciliation, recently travelled to Colombia to help PF Colombia in its ongoing efforts to promote restorative justice among criminal justice professionals.

Dialogue for Peace in Colombia

In January, PF Colombia began a roundtable discussion on creating a peace process using the paradigm of restorative justice. The series of meetings, held in one of the country’s major prisons, brought together members of different groups participating in the ongoing conflict – paramilitary and guerrilla -- as well as researchers in restorative justice from the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, representatives of the Medellín city government and members of PF Colombia.

Police Training in Colombia

In October 2006, PF Colombia Board Chairperson Lácides Hernandez served as an instructor in a training course covering restorative justice theory and practice for Medellín Metropolitan police.

ADR in Bolivia

Early this year, the Oruro branch of PF Bolivia opened the Charles Colson Conciliation Centre. Having received official recognition from the Ministry of Justice, the centre has five certified conciliators providing alternative dispute resolution services in civil, family, and penal disputes.

The Ministry of Reconciliation

The Gospels are an amazing story of reconciliation. It is the heart of the Christian message. Yet reconciliation is not the first thing that comes into the minds of innocent victims who suffer a loss or an injustice. People who lose a loved one to a violent crime will often feel bitter, angry and resentful. Seldom would anyone be inclined to think first of forgiveness and being reconciled to the offender in such circumstances. As difficult as the process of reconciliation is, a growing number of PF ministries are responding to the challenge of helping victims and offenders grow beyond the pain and anger and alienation of their experiences. The results are often miraculous.

Developments from Colombia

In December of 2002, the Colombian National Congress made several changes to article 250 of the Constitution of 1991, which addresses the obligations of the prosecutor in investigation and prosecution of criminal cases.