There is an increasing phenomenon of violent radicalisation, extremism and nationalism across Europe, with a need for a new approach that will help to prevent young people from engaging in these violent activities.  As part of RJ4All’s wider programme on Preventing & Addressing Violent Radicalisation and Extremism, we set up the Restorative Dialogue Against Violent Radicalisation (RDaVR). This was carried out with support from Erasmus+ in six countries: the UK, Italy, Spain, Turkey, Ireland and Romania.
 
This ebook brings together the findings from RDaVR through national chapters as well as a comparative analysis. A longer version is also available, which includes the project findings in Turkish, Italian, Spanish and Romanian. The ebook is particularly useful to criminal justice professionals and volunteers (e.g. prison officers, probation staff, police and community based practitioners) working with offenders, ex-offenders or individuals who are at risk of being groomed into violent radicalisation and/ or group offending.
 
The project and ebook are based on Gavrielides’ restorative justice model, which is a psychosocial intervention aiming to increase resilience and prevent anti-social behaviour. Prof. Gavrielides has been piloting this model through various pilots in the community, schools, prisons, universities and online. 
 
Instead of “managing” people as “risks” (Risk Need Responsivity), Gavrielides’ model focuses on promoting talents and strengths and through this approach help develop positive identities. This is captured as the Good Lives Model (GLM) articulated through the values and practices of restorative justice including power sharing, dialogue, fairness, equality and autonomy.
 
Co-funded by Erasmus+ Grant Agreement number: 2020-1-UK01-KA204-079115 and coordinated by Dr. Theo Gavrielides