To map European and national legislations regarding restorative justice and the rights of victims of crime.

The first stage of the project is focused on research and will map the European legislation as well as the national legal frameworks in Spain, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Bulgaria and Poland. The main aim of this research is to elucidate whether the current legislation stimulates, or hinders, the application of restorative justice programmes in cases of anti-LGBT hate crimes.

“To analyse the perspectives of victims and professionals in regard to anti-LGBT hate crimes.

Ethnographic research will be carried out to analyse the experiences, needs and opinions of the two main target groups, namely victims of anti-LGBT hate crimes and key professionals who deal with RJ and/or hate crimes. To this aim, around 180 in-depth interviews will be conducted across the six countries, gathering experiences from the ground.

Complementing the qualitative research, a survey will be conducted in each country with the aim to gather the viewpoints of the main LGBT associations and other civil organizations that fight against discrimination, in relation to the application of RJ in hate crimes.

To identify and study programmes of restorative justice in cases of hate crimes.

Following the national-level research, a comparative analysis will be carried out, offering an overall perspective and detecting common trends and gaps detected. This analysis will focus on restorative justice processes put in place in European and third countries for cases of anti-LGBT hate crimes, taking into account their transferability to other national contexts. The programmes that show their efficiency and capacity to be adapted, on the one hand, to anti-LGBT hate crimes, and to different national contexts, on the other hand, will be selected for a deeper analysis.

To foster the exchange of experiences and the cooperation between professionals.

Drawing on the identification and analysis of best practices, six national workshops will be organised. Each workshop will gather different key professionals to exchange experiences, tools and practices linked to RJ and the fight against LGBTphobia. During the workshops the RJ programmes selected as best practices will be presented and debated. The workshops will also constitute a strategy to reinforce the networking between participants. In addition, a two-day transnational workshop will be organised to facilitate transnational networking  and the exchange of best practices.

To develop training guidelines and courses for RJ practitioners

A b-learning training course will be developed for justice agencies, prison, probation and community organisations staff that may be involved in cases of anti-LGBT hate crimes. Next to the b-learning, we will also have a train the trainer course. This course will ensure dissemination and sustainability of the proposed approach over time, since different groups of professionals will be trained as trainers and can, therefore, train others in their specific context

To raise-awareness about the RJ efficacy

As an ongoing activity throughout the project, the awareness-raising campaign and dissemination of the restorative efficacy is an integrated part of the LetsGoByTalking project. The project will raise this awareness amongst policy makers, criminal justice practitioners, restorative justice professionals and LGBT organisations. Furthermore, articles will be published in a range of contexts, directed to different audience to raise the awareness of the restorative justice efficacy. An international final conference, which will take place in Barcelona in late 2021, will present and debate the project results. The conference will invite a vast range of people representing diverse sectors, professional and personal backgrounds, including academics.

To enhance the rights of victims established in the Directive 2012/29/EU.

LetsGoByTalking will enhance the rights of victims of crime established in the Directive 2012/29/EU. Concretely, all measures and activities proposed will respect the art.12 which states that restorative justice should be applied by safeguarding the victim from secondary victimisation, and after the victim receives full and unbiased information about the restorative justice process and its outcomes. Taking into account that restorative justice is based on the active listening of the victim’s needs and feelings, the project proposes a victim-centred approach that guarantees the victim’s right to be heard (art. 10).