1. Main Theme of the Seminar
The Protection of Victims of crime and the Active Participation of Victims in the Criminal Justice Process specifically considering Restorative Justice Approaches.

2. Rationale
The status of victims of crime had been given little attention in the criminal justice process from the beginnings of the modern criminal justice system to recent years. However, after the term "victimology" came into the world in the 1940s, based on the research of the actual situation of victims of crime, we had to face the serious problem of how to protect of victims of crime in the criminal justice system. The findings showed that, although the victim was the person who was the most strongly affected by the offence, there had been little attention paid to the protection of the rights, the interests and the legal status of the victim in the criminal justice system except in very exceptional cases. A common view regarding the deficiencies in the fairness of the system to victims of crime under the criminal justice system was developed. Policies and measures for the victim were developed in the following three stages, mainly in the Western countries after the 1960s.

The first stage was the establishment of a system of monetary support for the victim (1960s). New Zealand was the first country that enacted a law to give monetary support to the victim and other Western countries followed this. Through these efforts, the basis of monetary support for the victim by the national government was established. The second stage was the strengthening of immediate and direct support for the victim (1970s). From this time, immediate and direct support to the victim was started to be given by non-profit organizations such as Victim Support in the UK, the National Organization for Victim Assistance in the USA and by the governmental sectors. Since various kinds of research was conducted on the actual situation of the victim in this era, the idea was widely accepted that the improvement of the legal status of the victim and the establishment of the rights of the victim were essential for an effective management of the criminal justice system. Based on this principle, the third stage was the enactment of statutes for the improvement of the legal status of the victim and the establishment of the rights of the victim. The Western and some Asian countries realized the following rights through various kinds of laws and statutes such as the right to receive fair treatment, respect of dignity and privacy of the victim in the criminal justice process, the right to receive information about criminal justice proceedings, the right to attend to trails, the right of protection from threats and revenge and the right of compensation and reparation.

In Japan, a law was enacted to give monetary support to the victim in 1980 and laws for the improvement of the legal status of the victim were enacted and amended in 2000. The enactment and amendment of 2000 abolished the limitation period for complaints in sexual offences, allows a victim to make an victim impact statement in the trial process, gives consideration for the victim in the process of examination of a witness and attendance at the trial, gives authority to the court record as an enforceable title of obligation when it records a civil agreement between victim and offender. Furthermore, the information providing system to the victim by the police and public prosecutor's office has also been upgraded.

Under these circumstances, "The Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power" was adopted in the Seventh United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders in 1985. The Principles require nations and nationals to have sympathy and respect for the victim. For example, the Principles provide for the right of swift restoration of loss caused by crime, the right to receive information about the criminal justice procedure and participation in the procedure and consideration for strengthening various kinds of victim support.

As victim protection and support gained ground, the restorative justice approach also emerged as a new concept to tackle problems which the criminal justice system was failing to address. The restorative justice approach is one which considers the loss caused by crime through the active participation of the victim, offender and the community.

Restorative justice has been defined in numerous ways. Professor Umbreit defines restorative justice as "a victim-centered response to crime that provides, opportunities for those most directly affected by crime - the victim, the offender, their families, and representatives of the community - to be directly involved in responding to the harm caused by the crime. Restorative justice is based upon values which emphasize the importance of providing opportunities for more active involvement in the process of offering support and assistance to victims of crime; holding offenders directly accountable to the people and communities they have violated; restoring the emotional and material losses of victims (to the degree possible); providing a range of opportunities for dialogue and problem solving among interested victims of crime, offenders, families, and other support persons; offering offenders opportunities for competency development and reintegration into productive community life; and strengthening public safety through community building." In this seminar, we shall consider the concept of restorative justice in a manner wider than any strict meaning.

Restorative justice has existed since ancient times, but was rekindled in the West by the establishment of an experimental victim-offender reconciliation program in Canada in 1974. After that there was a rapid growth of these programs to more than 1,000 in North America, Europe, Southern Hemisphere countries such as New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. Some Asian countries have also tried to introduce these programs. In addition, some countries have introduced restorative justice by statute. For instance, the New Zealand government introduced family group conferences (FGC) for young offenders in the Children and Young Persons Act of 1989. FGCs were made available for adult offenders in New Zealand in 1995. Following that, the United Kingdom also introduced a similar concept in the form of the referral order for young offenders in the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act of 1999. Youth offender panels were introduced which perform the same functions as FGCs.

Under these circumstances, "The Vienna Declaration on Crime and Justice: Meeting the Challenges of the Twenty-first Century" was adopted by the Tenth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders held in Vienna in April 2000. The Declaration provides that, "We decide to introduce, where appropriate, national, regional and international action plans in support of victims of crime, such as mechanisms for mediation and restorative justice, .... and we encourage the development of restorative justice policies, procedures and programs that are respectful of the rights, needs and interests of victims, offenders, communities and all other parties." Based on this Declaration, the working group of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice has drafted "Basic principles on the use of restorative justice programs in criminal matters" as a United Nations standard for restorative justice (see attached reference material).

However, we find that major parts of Asian, African and Central and Southern American countries do not have adequate systems for the protection of victims of crime and do not sufficiently encourage active participation by the victim in the criminal justice process. These countries are requested to strengthen their systems for victim protection and support and develop restorative justice policies, procedures and programs at the same time.

Taking into consideration the various issues, we intend to clarify and analyze the current situation and to explore more effective ways to protect victims of crime and encourage more active participation by the victim in the criminal justice process specifically considering restorative justice approaches.

3. Objectives
Giving due consideration to the above mentioned rationale, the Seminar intends to explore more effective ways to protect victims of crime and encourage more active participation by victims in the criminal justice process specifically considering restorative justice approaches in each of the participating counties. By clarifying and analyzing the actual situation, possibilities and problems, sharing a theoretical basis, experiences and information, we will be able to find the most appropriate direction towards effective protection of victims of crime and encourage active participation by the victim in the criminal justice process specifically considering restorative justice approaches.

In the Seminar discussions, focus will be placed upon the following issues:

(1) Current situation and problems in relation to the protection of victims of crime and the active participation of victims in the criminal justice process
(a ) Current situation and problems in relation to measures to protect victims of crime
(1) Swift victim restoration system without recourse to court procedure such as mediation, reconciliation and arbitration,
(2) Victims of crime compensation system,
(3) Protection of victims and witnesses from offenders (tougher bail conditions, separation of waiting rooms between victims, witnesses and offenders, witness protection programs, prohibition of access by the offender to the victim),
(4) Methods of testimony in order to protect victims and witnesses (confidentiality of information about victims and witnesses, video link, testimony using video tape, guardian ad litems and witness attendants during testimony),
(5) Various kinds of services for victims such as immediate and direct support
(b ) Current situation and problems in relation to the active participation of victims in the criminal justice process
(1) The right of complaint for the victim,
(2) Private prosecution,
(3) System/measures of objection to non-prosecution and dismissal of the case,
(4) The hearing of victim statements relevant to the release of offenders (release on bail, home leave, furlough, parole, release on expiration of term of sentence),
(5) Victim impact statements and victim impact evidence,
(6) Recovery of loss/damage through the criminal justice process (compensation order, reparation order, community service order as a symbolic restitution, reparation order as a condition of a probation order, reconciliation in the criminal process, incidental civil law suit to the trial)
(c ) Current situation and problems in relation to providing information for victims of crime
(1) An information providing system for the victim at each stage of the criminal justice system (situation of investigation, arrest, prosecution/indictment, schedule of trial, location of offender, result of fact finding, sentence, escape, release on bail, home leave, furlough, parole, release on expiration of term of sentence and death of offender),
(2) Providing a chance of attendance at the trial,
(3) Providing offender's information to the community (such as information of release from a correctional institution and residence in the community of a sex offender)

(2) Current situation, possibilities and problems in restorative justice approaches
(a ) General topics of restorative justice - theoretical basis and problems of restorative justice, relation between restorative justice and criminal justice
(1) The aim and goal of restorative justice
(2) The possibilities and problems of the restorative justice approach - protection of the rights of the person concerned in the restorative justice process
(i) The ways of ensuring impartial solutions in the restorative justice process
(ii) Guarantee of due process of law for offenders in the restorative justice process
(b ) Particular topics of restorative justice - current situation, possibilities and problems of the management of systems based on restorative justice approaches
(1) Swift and effective restoration of loss caused by crime through the restorative justice process (including recovery of damage)- active participation of the victim and community in the victim offender reconciliation program (VORP), victim offender mediation program (VOM), victim offender dialogue program and family group conferencing (FGC) process
(2) What are the conditions under which the restorative justice approach as a diversion system functions most effectively (in terms of age, crime, criminal history and other important elements that affect effective management)
(3) The relationship between a restorative outcome (agreement based on the restorative process) and the formal criminal procedure
(4) Effective measures for ensuring a restorative outcome (which is based on agreement through the restorative justice process)