Restorative justice practices and community building: two of a kind?

In this paper, we will explore similarities and differences between restorative justice practices and community building. In 2012-2016 we coordinated a European research project, ALTERNATIVE, in which action research was set up to evaluate restorative justice practices for conflicts in intercultural settings. The idea was to study the field during one year and then implement restorative justice in diverse settings such as social housing (Austria), a community with a Roma minority (Hungary), border towns with people with a different ethnic background (Serbia) and different religious communities (Northern Ireland). In practice however, we found it difficult to implement RJ in such intercultural settings when people were not aware of RJ principles or techniques such as non-violent communication. Therefore, the different sites implemented trainings and workshops, which can be closely related to community building. This presentation therefore describes some of these practices and reflects upon the similarities and differences between RJ and community building.status: publishe