Supreme Court of Georgia

Conference on Restorative Justice has come to an end

Published: 11/02/2017

Today, at “Tbilisi Martiott Hotel” a conference was held dedicated to discussions concerning next stages of development for restorative justice approaches, results of mediation and diversion programs and awarding distinguished persons that had been involved in the implementation of the programs. The conference was organized with support of Georgian executive and judicial authorities, the project Eu4Justice and UNICEF.

The conference was welcomed by the Minister of Justice of Georgia, Tea Tsulukiani and the Chairperson of the Supreme Court of Georgia and HCOJ, Nino Gvenetadze, the first deputy Chief Prosecutor, Mamuka Vasadze and representative of EU and head of UNICEF, Laila Omar Gad.

Implementation of restorative justice approaches started in 2010 in Georgia when the programs of mediation and diversion, alternative mechanisms of criminal prosecution started operating. Juvenile Diversion and Mediation Program is a new mechanism for exemption from criminal responsibility.

Since 2010 approximately 2300 persons under 21 have been involved in the diversion program. Together with increase of diversion index the index of recommitting a crime by the juvenile offenders is low that indicates the efficiency of the program. Only 9 % of the diverted offenders recommitted a crime in 3 years period from the agreement expiration date. General provision of the programs of Diversion and Mediation is carried out by the Center for Crime Prevention under the Ministry of Justice of Georgia and with involvement of Prosecutor’s Office and National Probation Agency.

For promotion of restorative justice implementation in Georgia some distinguished professionals from each institution got awards at the conference.