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PF Portugal Highlights Restorative Justice
Last modified 2007-12-05 07:55
This year’s Convocation theme of Love and Justice was an appropriate one for PF Portugal to use at its annual nationwide PF Volunteers Meeting. The Portuguese Government recently announced a proposal for an experimental penal mediation programme that would allow for alternative prison sentences in cases of crimes that would have required less than five years in prison.
So at the meeting, PF offered an in-depth look at what restorative justice is and highlighted PF programmes such as the Sycamore Tree Project® and Communities of Restoration. The meeting took place in Fatima and included several volunteer groups from around the country, the Chaplain General, prison chaplains and representatives from the Government’s Prison Department. “Little things, little seeds, like smiling, singing, listening to and understanding another’s suffering can transform the volunteer into a real agent of restorative justice,” explained Jose de Sousa Mendes, PF Portugal Board Chairperson.
April 2007
This article first appeared in Prison Fellowship International's Global Link for April 2007.