"I personally don't believe in the culture of punishment"

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Navarra has been one of the most fruitful regions in Spain (and Europe) in terms of restorative justice developments during the past twenty years. Now, with the approval of the new Ley Foral of restorative justice, mediation, and community restorative practices, and the celebration of the upcoming 12th International EFRJ Seminar in Pamplona, Navarra is again on the cutting edge. This new law stands as a pioneering element at the Spanish policy level, being the only specific restorative justice legislation in the country, while the celebration of the Seminar contributes to situating Pamplona and Navarra at the centre of this year’s main European restorative justice event.

This blog piece is part of a series of interviews done with three professionals working at different levels of the restorative justice field to delve a bit more into how the context has changed recently in Navarra, as well as what they expect from the upcoming EFRJ event in Pamplona.

Maite Virto is a facilitator and the coordinator of the Restorative Justice Service of Navarra. Her background is in social work and mediation, finding the connection between the two disciplines through restorative justice and an opposition to the punishment culture. She worked on different issues related to attention of substance abuse users and inmates’ rights (Salhaketa Association), until she joined ANAME in 2012.

Maite Virto was interviewed by Renata Soares Ramos Falcão (Communication Intern at the European Forum for Restorative Justice) and Pablo Romero Seseña (Policy Intern at the European Forum for Restorative Justice).

How did you begin in the restorative justice field? What caught your attention to make you dedicate yourself to it?

First of all, I am a social worker; that is my vocation. So, as I have gained more experience in my profession, I have seen more connection between my field and restorative justice. In the end, what social work wants is to be able to transform society, generate social changes that can improve society, uniting it, and making it advance in a more positive way. So, there I see that there is a lot of relationship with restorative justice and the culture of peace itself.

On a personal level, when I finished my degree I took a masters degree in mediation, more oriented to civil matters but which also included a subject on criminal mediation. There I remember that they presented us with a case of criminal mediation, with a video of the meeting, and that impressed me a lot, because I personally don’t believe in the culture of punishment and I think that the restorative paradigm is much more useful than just not punishing.

In addition to that, I have also worked on issues of care for people with drug addiction, and with the Salhaketa association, which deals with aspects related to reintegration and the rights of prisoners. And this has also made me realise that sometimes it is very useful that there is the possibility of being able to repair the victims, right? The culture of punishment does not reduce recidivism or prevent crime, nor does it reflectively work with the offending person, much less listen to and repair the victims.

This is a summary of my career … until 2013 when I was invited to participate in the Navarra Association of Mediation (ANAME) in the criminal mediation service. And I am still there.

Until now, what has been the restorative justice context in Navarra?

Historically, the sequence is as follows: in 2005, a first pilot project was promoted in a court in Pamplona (Instruction 3), supported by the General Council of the Judiciary, with very positive results. From there, the following year the first draft of what today is the criminal mediation program in the jurisdiction of adults was created, and in 2007 it was extended to other areas of Navarra, always operated by ANAME. I believe that one of the main reasons for the success of this service has been the collaboration that we have had here between the public administration, the judiciary and the organisation that has run the service. After a few years of operation, in 2017 it opened as a public service with all the guarantees, then depending on the Victim Care Service of the government of Navarra. In 2022, and after the entry of Jorge Ollero, the restorative justice public service was created, already integrated into the General Directorate of Justice, and we also began to work so that we tried to overcome that conception of criminal mediation as the only tool of the restorative justice, opening ourselves to other types of restorative practices such as circles, conferences, or community restorative practices.

What’s your impression of the new Law?

The very existence of a specific restorative justice law in Navarra is something pioneering at the national level; this means that we are at the forefront in this area at the state level. So, I think it is very important to have a regulatory framework that we can turn to and on which we can base our professional activity. It also guarantees the existence of restorative justice services as public services. On the other hand, it is also important that the law provides for the existence of programmes and services that also include other restorative practices, apart from mediation, even at the community level. That is, it is not limited exclusively to those cases that are within a judicial process. So the law provides the right for citizens to be able to participate in this type of process, and this is very important because it means that it won’t depend so much on the political situation.

What would you say are the most interesting aspects of the Law?

I think that one of the most interesting aspects of this new law is that it gives a boost to those restorative processes that go beyond criminal mediation itself. The fact that conferences, circles, etc. are included is very important because it provides us with innovative tools and puts us on the same level as other countries and regions that have years of advantage in these aspects. Also, the fact that the development of community restorative processes is contemplated from a more preventive perspective makes it possible to give a voice to society. We see that this voice is being promoted from the administration itself, and encourages civil society to have this space to express themselves and to contribute to a more cohesive society (instead of neighbourhoods taking the initiative). It also highlights the need to include in restorative justice services such important aspects as a gender perspective, attention to diversity, and disability. This is super important because it also guarantees that the professionals who work in this field are trained in these aspects and are sensitive to different realities. As a caveat to the new law, we miss perhaps the inclusion of provisions related to different restorative services with an intercultural approach.

However, we believe that it is very important that quality and training standards are included, and that this training can come from a common framework and be the same for all the professionals who operate in this field. The evaluation and monitoring of services can be very useful for us, because it will allow us to learn and improve our practice.

Another aspect that we believe is very interesting is everything related to the promulgation of the service and its activity. This is relevant because the law mentions the right of citizens to access these restorative processes from the existence of the conflict, which means that there has to be a complaint. It helps us to be able to work preventively, from the citizen service offices or even from the referral of cases through the police. Even working proactively on our part.

How do you think it will affect your professional practices?

On a practical level, I think the main improvement will be the professional security that the new law will give us, by having a regulatory framework to which we can turn when needed. Also, as there will be common criteria and standards in the field of restorative justice, this will mean that all of us who work in this field can move in the same direction and together. Being able to count on evaluation mechanisms is also going to be something very positive, and it will serve as a guide to be able to improve our professional practice both at the individual level and at the service level.

On the other hand, there are also some aspects that generate a certain concern in terms of transferring it to our day to day practice. For example, the veto that the Law establishes for cases of gender-based violence raises some doubts at a methodological and practical level about how to transfer this to the reality in which we work. We will see how it develops and what implications it has in the future …

Regarding the upcoming EFRJ Seminar in Pamplona, why Navarra? What can the EFRJ community expect from this event in terms of restorative justice?

We understand that in Navarra there is extensive development in the field of restorative justice — we are pioneers in this sense — and I think that this has been valued in the organisation of the seminar and is very interesting for us. Also, obviously, the development of the new law has put us back in the spotlight, since now it is the law itself that protects us and aligns us with the objectives of organisations such as the EFRJ. At an informative level, I think it is a great opportunity for us, in order to disseminate and make known the work that is done from Navarra. And also so that at the national level it can serve so that other regions of Spain, in addition to the Basque Country and Catalonia, can join the goals of what the new law proposes. For all the work and good results that we have been obtaining, as well as the confidence that there is in the service and its professionals, I think that we are a very good location for this seminar!

Why is it useful/interesting for you to host a EFRJ event in Navarra?

A meeting of professionals is always enriching, being able to share the experience we have from here and being able to generate synergies with the experience of other people from other countries is always something very interesting. Everything related to sharing knowledge and being able to receive the experience of other people is always very positive and rewarding.

Finally, what invitation/message would you share with our network to invite them to come to Pamplona?

I am sure that the organisation of this seminar has been prepared with great care and enthusiasm, and I would encourage people to come because it will surely be very enriching in terms of learning. In addition, they will find a wonderful city, very easy to visit and know, with incredible gastronomy and a vibrant atmosphere due to the proximity of the San Fermín festivities.

Maite Virto was interviewed by Renata Soares Ramos Falcão (Communication Intern at the European Forum for Restorative Justice) and Pablo Romero Seseña (Policy Intern at the European Forum for Restorative Justice).