Restorative justice in the Basque peace process: some experiments and their lessons

Zernova, Margarita

Abstract

This paper contributes to the literature that analyses application of restorative justice in transitional societies. It examines recent attempts to employ restorative justice in the Basque peace process following ETA’s ceasefire. Using the Basque experience, it discusses some of the hidden dangers and tensions which arise when attempts are made to utilize ‘traditional’ restorative justice approaches and assumptions underlying them in transitional settings. One of the initiatives under discussion used a well-established restorative justice method of mediation between individual victims and offenders and attempted to transplant it without alteration from the context of ‘ordinary’ crime to the context of ‘political’ crime. It is argued that the scale and complexity of the conflict that looms behind individual offences in question renders certain assumptions and practices of ‘traditional’ restorative justice questionable both ethically and politically. Several other initiatives that have emerged recently in the Basque peace process are discussed which do not take the ‘classic’ form of restorative justice, yet values underpinning them fit well with the restorative justice philosophy. They might suggest a more promising direction for the development of restorative justice in the aftermath of mass violence.

Citation

Zernova, M. (2017). Restorative justice in the Basque peace process: some experiments and their lessons. Contemporary Justice Review, 20(3), 363-391. https://doi.org/10.1080/10282580.2017.1348899

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 6, 2017
• Online Publication Date: Jul 12, 2017
• Publication Date: Jul 12, 2017
• Deposit Date: Feb 7, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 13, 2019
• Journal: Contemporary justice review : issues in criminal, social, and restorative justice
• Print ISSN: 1028-2580
• Electronic ISSN: 1477-2248
• Publisher: Routledge
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 20
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 363-391
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10282580.2017.1348899
• Keywords: Restorative justice; Transitional society; VOM; Basque conflict; ETA's ceasefire
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/447873
• Publisher URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10282580.2017.1348899?scroll=top&needAccess=true
• Additional Information: This is the accepted manuscript of an article published in Contemporary justice review : issues in criminal, social, and restorative justice, 2017. The version of record is available at the DOI link in this record.