Uruguay police officers training in 'restorative justice' methods in Cambridge

Friday, January 17th 2014 - 06:30 UTC

Full article 6 comments

The officers with the background of Cambridge

Fourteen police officers from Uruguay are currently attending courses at the Criminology Institute at Cambridge University, as part of their training for the country's Citizens' Security program, implemented with the support from the Inter American Development bank.

According to Uruguay's Ministry of Interior press office the courses are dictated by professors Lawrence Sherman, Heather Strang, Barak Ariel, Brian Dowling and Peter Neyroud, all experts in different fields of police and criminal strategies including restorative justice.

“Our officers were exposed to different examples of 'evidence-based-policing', which means focusing, testing and monitoring strategies with the purpose of the development, assessment and perfection of different practices which are effective and efficient for a good police performance”, reads the release.

Of special interest was 'Restorative Justice' which addresses criminal law issues, but focused on the victims needs giving priority to repair the damage caused by criminal activity. These restorative methods can consist in money compensation to the victims; showing audiovisuals to those who committed the crime and their victims, with testimonies from other victims and encouraging group discussions in which offenders and victims can be accompanied by whom they chose.

A facilitator and co-facilitator act as moderators. The purpose of these meetings is to work on the emotions of those involved by reducing wrath, fear and the wish of revenge.

The restorative justice methodology is very common in Anglo-Saxon countries because it has helped to significantly reduce criminal re-occurrence. This methodology has no institutional record in Uruguay, and “this strategy will be another element to innovate in police activities”.

Those participating in the training are expected to apply their experience with new ideas and methods, at three pilot police stations, and if the strategy is successful particularly the restorative justice principle, extend it to other police stations of Montevideo.

Categories: Politics, International, Uruguay.

Tags: 'Restorative Justice', Criminology Institute at Cambridge University, United Kingdom, Uruguay, Uruguayan police.

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Stevie
No need for the Uruguayan police to beg for forgiveness, just jail the ones responsable...
Jan 17th, 2014 - 08:49 am 0
Pytangua
I no longer believe that the United Kingdom can arrogantly hold itself up as a paragon of 'good practice' on policing. I wonder if the Uruguayans attending this course will be informed that 1,476 people died in police custody in England and Wales from 1991-2013, and only eleven cases were found to be 'unlawful killings'. But the most terrible fact is that NOT ONE police officer has been convicted and imprisoned in any of these cases. If this happened in Latin America, we in Britain would be the first to condemn the lack of police accountability. The trouble is that we have been molded to believe that our “oldest democracy” is still the best in the world. The sad fact is that it isn't at all.
Jan 17th, 2014 - 11:30 am 0
Rufus
@2 Pytangua

You want to be a little careful relying on that particular statistic.
The normal statistic given from FoI requests is the number of deaths in or (up to 24 hours) after contact with the police, not necessarily deaths in custody. So if I were to ask a constable the time and get mown down crossing the next road there's a reasonably good chance that I'd be included in the statistic. It'd also mean that if I were involved in a bar brawl, and sustained what later turned out to be lethal head injuries then I'd still be counted if the police arrested me when they came to restore order.
Jan 17th, 2014 - 12:22 pm 0

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