New Dissemination Campaign on Restorative Justice: "Repairing is Better than Punishing"

As part of the actions developed by the Regional Project Strengthening Restorative Justice, which is financed by the European Union's ADELANTE Programme, the Magistrate of the Criminal Cassation Chamber Rafael Segura Bonilla presented, on 26 November 2019, the Restorative Justice campaign entitled: "Repairing is better than punishing".

Magistrate Segura Bonilla pointed out that "the idea is to make people both inside and outside the institution aware of what the process of Restorative Justice consists of, when it can be applied and what the benefits are for both the victim and the accused".

The title of the campaign has its origin in the fact that repairing the damage caused to the victim and the community by the crime is what the person accused does in Restorative Justice, while acquiring tools for a life away from crime, thus promoting a more peaceful coexistence. It reflects the fact that this is a process where the victim comes first and where impunity is never promoted.

The objective of the campaign is to promote access to Restorative Justice for the population in general, renewing the color tone and graphic line, but maintaining the essence. The green color represents hope in repairing of the damage and restoration with new opportunities for the people involved in the conflict; the blue is the continuous movement, symbolizing the form of the agreements of the parties, always reintegrating. Finally, orange represents the humanization of the administration of justice, through the restoration of damaged relationships.

As explained by the Magistrate, 11 posters were produced, and will be disseminated in a very large number of cantons in the country. Coordination work was done with various institutions, such as the Union of Local Governments, in order to promote their installation in strategic locations, mainly where populations in a condition of vulnerability are located.

Thanks to an easily accessible language and fresh and attractive images, it is expected to reach out to people who might need the services of the Judicial Branch to resolve their criminal, juvenile or contraventional conflict. The campaign was developed by the Department of Restorative Justice with the support of the Office of Access to Justice, CONAMAJ, the Department of Social Work and Psychology, the Department of Press and Communication and the Juvenile Criminal Judiciary, as part of the implementation of the Strengthening Restorative Justice Regional Project.