In November, Dr. Ian Marder (Associate Professor in Criminology, Maynooth University School of Law and Criminology) and Dr. Sophie van der Valk (Research Assistant in Restorative Justice, Maynooth University School of Law and Criminology; Senior Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Vrije Universiteit Brussel) published two policy briefings. The briefings are part of the VICINFO project, which aims to realise victims’ right to receive information about restorative justice.

The briefings seek to support policymakers, criminal justice agencies and restorative justice and victim support services in Ireland and across Europe to improve the procedures through which victims are given information about accessing restorative justice. The first briefing, published by publicpolicy.ie, focuses on achieving this goal in Ireland. Based on research conducted in Ireland and five other European jurisdictions, the briefing outlines five questions that must be answered to ensure victims receive full, unbiased information about restorative justice. It makes a series of recommendations on how Gardaí, restorative justice providers and other actors can collaborate to provide written information, to create a specialist single point of contact in the Garda Síochána for restorative justice providers, and to develop the legal basis for data sharing.

If you are interested in exploring how victims’ right to receive information about restorative justice can be realised in Ireland, you can access the first briefing here.

Infographic from VICINFO briefing

The second briefing, published by the European Forum for Restorative Justice, outlines VICINFO’s findings more broadly to inform ongoing work by the European Union to revise the Victims’ Rights Directive, and work by EU justice ministries to implement victims’ rights. This briefing outlines the systems in the five studied countries, which were selected because they have innovative systems of interagency collaboration or data governance from which other jurisdictions could learn. It also recommends specific approaches to multi-agency collaboration and law reform that EU member states could use to realise victims’ right to receive information about restorative justice.

If you are interested in how EU institutions and governments might help to realise victims’ right to receive information about restorative justice, you can access the second briefing here.

VICINFO received financial support from Taighde Éireann – Research Ireland under Grant Number NF/2024/11681. It is supported by Restorative Justice Services, the project’s civic society partner, and by a steering group.