International conference on „Restorative Justice“ with the participation of the members of the Judicial Council

The topic of restorative justice is increasingly resonating in Slovakia. The reason is that this innovative trend in justice is widespread in Western European countries, but it is not applied to the required extent in Slovakia. That is why the professional public is increasingly focusing its attention on the dissemination of information on this issue. The international scientific conference "Restorative Justice", which took place at the Faculty of Law of Comenius University in Bratislava on Thursday 27 June, was one of such steps. It was also attended by the President of the Judicial Council of the Slovak Republic, Marcela Kosová, and a member of the Judicial Council, Peter Šamko.

The aim of the international conference was to identify legislative and legal-application reserves, as well as to determine the reasons why restorative justice is not applied in the Slovak legal system. At the same time, to find and propose procedures how to change it. "It is important to reconcile views, experiences and needs from a wide spectrum. This does not mean listening only to judges or prosecutors, it is especially important to listen to probation and mediation officers as well as to the Prison and Judicial Guard Corps. Our practice to date is a reflection of the application of legislation that realistically emphasises punishment rather than re-education. That is why our society is not progressing in this regard, we are just increasingly filling prisons and imposing unconditional sentences. It does not reduce crime. Imposing draconian sentences will not make people afraid to commit crime. It is important for them to know that when they 'trip up', society does not condemn them, but gives them and the victims a helping hand. This is of great importance", thinks Marcela Kosová, President of the Judicial Council of the Slovak Republic. In the Czech Republic, restorative justice was put into practice in 2018. At the conference, the results were presented, proving that this approach makes sense. It is based on the principle of active rehabilitation of offenders and the imposition and use of types of sanctions and educational and preventive methods that leave the offender (especially of non-violent crimes) in his natural environment, without serving a prison sentence. "As far as the short-term goal is concerned, it is important, first of all, to set the mindset by showing good practice, and also to instil the conclusion in the minds of judges and prosecutors that the solution can be approached in this alternative way. The medium-term objective is clearly legislative change, because some parts of the law are complicated and this makes the work of judges and prosecutors more tedious. We need to simplify this and we already have a series of small measures that we could translate into the legislative process", says Daniel Petričko, Director General of the Restorative and Alternative Justice Section at the Ministry of Justice of the Slovak Republic, about the situation in Slovak justice.

Experts from the Czech Republic, Serbia and Belgium presented their papers at the international scientific conference. Peter Šamko, a member of the Judicial Council of the Slovak Republic, also presented his contribution. "It is important to remember that the Slovak judiciary is overwhelmed and therefore opts for simpler solutions. If you can issue a criminal warrant, you issue it and you do not go to conciliation, because it is more laborious and more difficult, which leads to the fact that you choose the classical way rather than the alternative one. It would help if the conditions for alternative sentences, or for conciliation, were simplified. It would be more advantageous for the courts; they could already choose this way because it would be efficient. I think that the Judicial Council could help in this respect by bringing legislative ideas that could be translated either into a paragraph or into an appeal, which could be addressed to the Ministry of Justice," adds Peter Šamko, a member of the Judicial Council. Experts agreed that for the adoption of restorative justice in practice in Slovakia, it is necessary to prepare the ground both legislatively and humanly. The growth of the prison population cannot be expected to reduce crime.