PF Mexico Offers Restorative Justice Training
At the invitation from the Instituto de Formación del Poder Judicial del Estado de Guanajuato (Training Institute of the Courts of the State of Guanajuato) PF Mexico offered a seminar on restorative justice as a part of a diploma course on alternative dispute resolution mechanisms. Approximately 70 judges, magistrates, lawyers and other actors from Guanajuato’s court system attended the training led by PF Mexico executive director Angeles Flores Lara on 8 and 9 November 2010.
The seminar sessions included:
- Concept of restorative justice
- Restorative principles and values
- International models of restorative justice and the role of the State in its application
- Restorative justice and the APAC methodology
- Between justice and transformation
- Where love and justice meet
According to Angeles, the participants expressed a great deal of scepticism at the beginning of the course. One raised the question, “how can we talk of restoring a criminal when what is needed, according to public opinion, is punishment?” Yet, as she explained the concepts and definitions, the comments turned to questions of implementation.
To help the group develop a better understanding of how the restorative values and their application, Angeles designed an interactive activity in which they watched a video that highlighted the dignity of the human being. The seminar participants analysed the video and answered the following questions:
- What basic or restorative values did you find in the video?
- Where does the value of the person lie?
- How can we live out these values in the court?
- What are the obstacles that we may encounter in practicing and living out these values?
In response to the seminar, a group of the students approached Angeles and PF Mexico Board Chairperson, Father Bernardo Skertchly, about forming a PF Mexico branch in the state of Guanajuato.
im interested to take restorative justice training and work in this proyect (Restorative Justice in Mexico)with you