Claudia Christen-Schneider

Claudia Christen-Schneider (Switzerland) obtained her MSc in Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Portsmouth and studied Restorative Justice at Simon Fraser University (SFU) in Canada. For more than a decade Claudia worked in Chile where she was actively involved in the prevention of child sexual abuse and domestic violence, mediated highly escalated family cases and worked in several high security prisons where she also started implementing restorative processes.

As the founder and current president of the Swiss RJ Forum, Claudia is at the forefront of promoting, developing and implementing restorative justice in Switzerland. She has led several pioneering projects in Swiss prisons. These projects were well received and are now offered regularly in various Swiss prisons. She also facilitates direct offender-victim dialogues, especially in cases of serious harm, and her major concern is to promote a trauma-informed approach to restorative justice. She is currently researching and writing a book in relation to the intersection of restorative justice and trauma-informed practice and the role of community within such processes. Claudia is also part of the University of Portsmouth's research group and serves on the advisory Board of Nomos Publishing's new series of publications on issues related to resocialisation, victim protection and restorative justice (Seehaus plus).

Claudia is a guest lecturer at the Bern University of Applied Sciences and teaches about restorative justice in various other contexts. She is also involved in designing and teaching restorative justice trainings.

Since 2017, Claudia has been actively involved in the EFRJ’s Values and Standards Working Group, which later developed into a committee. She is currently serving as the Chair of the Values & Standards Committee and has been a member of the EFRJ Editorial Committee since 2018. At present, she is also one of the EFRJ representatives in the PROTECT project which seeks to exchange good practices on restorative justice and promoting the victims’ rights protection.

My motivation to become involved in the Board is to serve the Board with the experiences I have had over the past decades. My first contact with restorative justice was my own experience as a former crime victim. Later, when I started to work in the field, the way I was introduced to Restorative justice practice was very rudimentary. I felt like I was thrown in at the deep end and I learned a lot through implementing processes, making mistakes and constantly evaluating them. Then in Switzerland, I was confronted with strong opposition to restorative justice and we had to analyse the current context in Switzerland, listen to the opponents to understand the existing fears, objections and resistance and develop a vision of what we wished to achieve. We had to find a way to promote restorative justice in a manner that would be non-threatening and invite other professionals to join us instead of opposing each other. This included critically examining ourselves. We eventually started with small pilot projects that we continuously evaluated to build trust and show what restorative justice is really about. Learning to work with the media was also an important aspect. Then there was the work related to policy and the drafting of documents to support the introduction of restorative justice legislation in Switzerland.

Having served on the V&S Committee since its creation, I hope to continue to support the Board in this area, also drawing on my experience in trauma-informed practice and the development of highly flexible and needs-based practices. I am happy to share my local and international expertise and would contribute in the Board by thinking about how we can overcome obstacles and find ways to promote restorative justice in Europe and beyond. My experience from Switzerland could also be useful for others who are developing restorative justice in countries where it is still little known. Having lived and worked in various geographical contexts, my cultural experience and language skills might also be of use (German, English, Spanish, French). I have been hoping for some time that the resources of the EFRJ could also be available in more languages, and perhaps I could help to create an initiative in this area. I would also like to find ways to increase membership and participation in regions where the EFRJ is not yet so strongly represented, such as Switzerland. I would also be happy to support the Board in any other way that is needed, for example with very practical tasks, or by being supportive in analysing complex situations, asking critical questions and developing concrete plans on how to address these situations, how to design specific steps and how to self-critically reflect on progress. We are also currently developing university-based restorative justice training, a joint project of the EFRJ and the Swiss RJ Forum, another area in which I would hope to be of assistance to the Board.

Participating in the work of the Board could also give a boost to the development of the restorative justice in Switzerland. Thus, the Board of the Swiss RJ Forum fully supports my candidature and, in case I’d get elected, would like to do its utmost to support me in order to also free me to duly dedicate myself to this task.

My desire would be to contribute my expertise to promote a needs-based, flexible and victim-centred approach to restorative justice in Europe and that we could launch a university-based training programme that promotes high quality restorative justice in Europe.

Claudia Christen-Schneider has in-depth and varied experience in the field of restorative justice in a number of different countries and in a number of different contexts. The founding member of the Swiss RJ Forum, she has not only proved her commitment to restorative justice but also demonstrated a number of important skills not only with respect to the practice and implementation of restorative justice, but also with respect to evidencing the need for and benefits of restorative justice. Claudia has provided dedicated support to the work of the EFRJ for a number of years and a role on the Board would allow her to continue with this trajectory. A truly dedicated and conscientious colleague whose many skills and experiences meant that she would be a valuable asset to the EFRJ Board, it is with great conviction and confidence that I, without hesitation, nominate Claudia for the role of EFRJ Board member.

Claudia Christen-Schneider is a dear restorative justice colleague for many years already. She is very active in her own country to bring restorative justice further, as well as in the German speaking countries and at the European level. The practical work she is doing in prisons is very stimulating and well received. I was invited by her organisation to teach in Switzerland for two days and I was impressed by the way we were received and how she was running the sessions and keeping good contact with all participants and Board members. She has management, academic and practical skills. And she is an active member of the EFRJ, part of the Newsletter Editorial Committee and an accurate chair of the Values & Standards Committee. As a person Claudia is humble, very warm, open and supportive. I would warmly recommend her as a new Board member.

Email: swissrjforum@gmail.com

Organisation, job title: Swiss RJ Forum, President