Restorative Justice

These Guidelines for corporations are aimed at providing a practical and specific tool for the prevention of victimisation, and a better implementation of Directive 2012/29/EU with specific respect to victims of corporate crime and corporate violence. This particular chapter focuses on restorative justice. Directive 2012/29/EU, in fact, encourages restorative justice under certain conditions and safeguards. The UN Basic Principles on the Use of Restorative Justice Programmes in Criminal Matters state that restorative justice programmes should be made available at any stage of the criminal justice system, potentially for all criminal offences. Restorative justice’s potential in cases of corporate crime and corporate violence, though, is still largely unexplored. These guidelines provide a practical insight on how corporations could be involved in, and promote, restorative justice programmes in cases of corporate violence victimsation in very complex and highly conflictual contexts, with large organisations and potentially large numbers of individuals involved, informational and power imbalances, situations involving scientific uncertainty and exposure to repeat victimisation and retaliation, the involvement of national and/or local public institutions, and the impact of economic and social considerations which may be nationwide.