In June, 2014 The Centre for Democracy Foundation, in partnership with the Victimology Society of Serbia    began implementation of a project entitled “Promoting Alternative sanctions and restorative justice measures”. 

The reason for the implementation of the project is the current state of correctional institutions for the implementation of criminal sanctions, which have been overcrowded for the past several years, and in direct violation of international standards. We believe that conditions would be far better if alternative criminal sanctions were imposed where conditions for their imposition exist. 

Greater participation of civil society organisations, which deal with criminal law and the fight for human rights, would certainly contribute to this situation. Because of this, our aim is to motivate civil society organisations to more actively advocate for the implementation of alternative criminal sanctions, but also to inform them of the various models of alternative sanctions that are effective in other countries, such as restorative justice.

In addition to civil society organisations, other target groups included in the project are offices for the implementation of alternative criminal sanctions, judges, Judicial Academy students, but also policy makers and representatives of state institutions.

Within the framework of the project and in addition to workshops held on the above mentioned subjects, the Victimology Society of Serbia will implement a pilot programme on the relationship between the perpetrators of crimes and their victims.

The duration of the project is 15 months and it has been supported by the Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Serbia within the framework of the programme entitled “The European instrument for democracy and human rights”.