ABSTRACT
The restorative justice context provides crucial elements in order to understand the analysis in this chapter of the European policy developments at the crossroads of victims and restorative justice. The policy levels which will be addressed are the Council of Europe and the European Union. Only occasionally will there be references to international documents. In Council of Europe policy the victims and restorative justice' topic comes in through both the restorative justice and the victims' angle as part of a broader policy geared towards more participation of the victim in criminal justice, the development of alternative sanctions and the rehabilitation of offenders. In European Union legislation the theme of victims of crime', which has recently risen prominently on the EU criminal justice policy agenda, is the exclusive entrance to victims and restorative justice'. The expectations of the respondents towards supranational legislation were mainly to provide general regulation increasing the implementation of restorative justice in the national systems.
