On October 12th, Dr. Ian Marder gave an invited plenary presentation at the University of Wrocław in the Lower Silesian region of Western Poland. He spoke at a two-day conference to mark the occasion of the 99th anniversary of the founding of the Polish probation service. Alongside Dr. Marder, this international conference featured speakers from France, the UK and the USA, as well as showcasing some of the research being produced as part of the burgeoning Polish academic criminology scene. Several practitioners also presented on the various innovations and established practices currently being used by Polish probation services.
The theme of the conference was ‘What Works?’, a common refrain in rehabilitation and resettlement studies. Dr. Marder spoke about the research evidence on the use of restorative justice in probation, provided examples of its development within probation departments in other countries in the region and outlined the relevant features of the new Council of Europe Recommendation concerning restorative justice in criminal matters, published earlier this month. He also used the trip to establish and build on existing relations with academics from several Polish universities and with practitioners from the Wrocław Centre for Restorative Justice, a local initiative which seeks to place community reparation at the centre of probation work.