News
R4JUST Final conference
Multi-level tailored training and multi-agency cooperation to be prioritised to achieve a comprehensive P/CVE strategy where a prison-exit continuum can successfully be achieved
Organised by IPS_Innovative Prison System, the R4JUST International Conference was held in Lisbon, gathering 50 experts and practitioners in the P/CVE and criminal justice system field, from Europe and North America, counting with several key expert speakers in the field.
The importance of multi-level training and successful risk screening and assessment for effective P/CVE efforts, confirming the project’s main results, were highlighted and set the themes for discussion, following the two keynote speeches by Nadya Radkovska, from the Bulgarian General Directorate “Execution of Sentences” and Co-chair of the RAN Prisons Group and Diletta Berardinelli, renowned Co-Chair of the RAN Prisons Group. Holistic and cross-sectoral training was identified as a need and priority for criminal justice system professionals, as well as the recognition that rehabilitative efforts should always be prioritised, ensuring a prison-exit continuum.
Multi-level tailored training and multi-agency cooperation to be prioritised to achieve a comprehensive P/CVE strategy where a prison-exit continuum can successfully be achieved
Organised by IPS_Innovative Prison System, the R4JUST International Conference was held in Lisbon, gathering 50 experts and practitioners in the P/CVE and criminal justice system field, from Europe and North America, counting with several key expert speakers in the field.
The importance of multi-level training and successful risk screening and assessment for effective P/CVE efforts, confirming the project’s main results, were highlighted and set the themes for discussion, following the two keynote speeches by Nadya Radkovska, from the Bulgarian General Directorate “Execution of Sentences” and Co-chair of the RAN Prisons Group and Diletta Berardinelli, renowned Co-Chair of the RAN Prisons Group. Holistic and cross-sectoral training was identified as a need and priority for criminal justice system professionals, as well as the recognition that rehabilitative efforts should always be prioritised, ensuring a prison-exit continuum.
In fact, during the first panel which counted with presentations from Álvaro Vicente, researcher and associate professor at the Real Instituto Elcano in Spain, Ondřej Kolář, professor at the Police Academy of Czech Republic in Prague, and Pedro Liberado, Chief Researcher Officer at IPS_Innovative Prison Systems, it became apparent how informed and grounded risk assessment procedures can and should be used in different stages within the action of the criminal justice system. Starting as a guide for sentencing and especially during the sentence period, whether in custodial or noncustodial settings, aiding to promote the detection and signalling of early signs of radicalisation.
The RRAP toolset, developed within the R2PRIS project, was thoroughly presented by the second panel of the day, counting with presentations from David Hansen, professor at the University College of the Norwegian Correctional Service (KRUS) and Vânia Sampaio, researcher at IPS_Innovative Prison Systems. RRAP’s three tools, namely the FBOG (Frontline Behavioural Observational Guidelines), the Helicopter View and the IRS (Individual Risk Screening) were explained, building on top of the project’s Certification Courses, showing how the work to prevent, identify and tackle radicalisation and violent extremism requires a multi-level, cross-sectoral and joint work between different professionals and agencies. For such, a tailored and comprehensive training was identified as a pressing need for different professionals within the criminal justice sector.
Therefore, and keeping in mind R4JUST’s main goal to raise awareness on radicalisation by delivering tailored and comprehensive training, the project’s main training results were shared, quantifying the actual impact of the project, which successfully trained over 200 professionals from the prison context, with positive and significant results in terms of improvement of knowledge. Knowledge on radicalisation, P/CVE mechanisms, efforts and risk assessment procedures increased, as significant changes were discovered in the levels of understanding on P/CVe prior and after the training course.
Therefore, and keeping in mind R4JUST’s main goal to raise awareness on radicalisation by delivering tailored and comprehensive training, the project’s main training results were shared, quantifying the actual impact of the project, which successfully trained over 200 professionals from the prison context, with positive and significant results in terms of improvement of knowledge. Knowledge on radicalisation, P/CVE mechanisms, efforts and risk assessment procedures increased, as significant changes were discovered in the levels of understanding on P/CVe prior and after the training course.
On the second half of the day, the need for a prison-exit continuum of intervention was emphasised, as the third panel, with presentations from Vítor Costa, associate professor and researcher at University of Beira Interior in Portugal, Marian Tataru from the Centre for Penitentiary Studies of the West University of Timisoara in Romania and David Hansen from KRUS highlighted how rehabilitative efforts must be informed and guided by risk assessment procedures, as it helps to adapt and tailor the level of intervention. In fact, risk assessment procedures should start as early as possible, and so should proper intervention. The Norwegian experience was emphasised, becoming clear that for successful disengagement efforts, first the specific radicalisation process should be understood, allowing for humane and tailored work, favouring personal and motivational schemes of intervention. Regardless of the experiences shared, future steps were also highlighted, as holistic training should be prioritised, going beyond risk assessment and information on radicalisation, as front-line professionals should be given the skills and attitudes for humane and comprehensive work in P/CVE.
To reinforce the need to establish multi-agency cooperation for effective P/CVE work, the fourth and last panel of the day counted with presentations from Joana Apóstolo and Raquel Venâncio, researchers at IPS_Innovative Prison Systems and Sigrid Raets, researcher at the Institute for International Research on Criminal Policy at Ghent University in Belgium, sharing experiences, best practices and recommendations to enhance cooperation, aiming to establish a holistic approach to P/CVE, where information and trust flow easily. Different European examples were shared, as it became apparent that despite specific national realities, there is a general concern to better train front-line professionals on radicalisation, as well as to ensure the continuity of interventive efforts throughout the different stages of the criminal justice system work.
By increasing cooperation, a smoother transition from prison to the community is fomented, easing resettlement and reintegration processes, thus promoting the prison-exit continuum.
To reinforce the need to establish multi-agency cooperation for effective P/CVE work, the fourth and last panel of the day counted with presentations from Joana Apóstolo and Raquel Venâncio, researchers at IPS_Innovative Prison Systems and Sigrid Raets, researcher at the Institute for International Research on Criminal Policy at Ghent University in Belgium, sharing experiences, best practices and recommendations to enhance cooperation, aiming to establish a holistic approach to P/CVE, where information and trust flow easily. Different European examples were shared, as it became apparent that despite specific national realities, there is a general concern to better train front-line professionals on radicalisation, as well as to ensure the continuity of interventive efforts throughout the different stages of the criminal justice system work.
By increasing cooperation, a smoother transition from prison to the community is fomented, easing resettlement and reintegration processes, thus promoting the prison-exit continuum.
To jointly establish the next and last steps to be followed to successfully complete the R4JUST project, its consortium had one last project meeting, held in IPS_Innovative Prison Systems headquarters in Lisbon, where all partners were present, either in person or online. Hazards were shared, and joint solutions were found so the project can find its successful completion.
The R4JUST (Radicalisation Prevention Competences’ Development Programme for Justice Professionals) project is exploring a multi-sectoral approach to enhance the competencies of staff in prison, probation and judicial settings to prevent and reduce the risk of radicalisation and violent extremism across the justice system. The R4JUST programme is led by
BSAFE Lab – Law Enforcement, Justice and Public Safety Laboratory of Beira Interior University (Portugal), and partnered by IPS_Innovative Prison Systems (Portugal), Directorate-General for Reintegration and Prison Services (DGRSP/Portugal), College of Public Administration Bremen (Germany), Bremen Senate of Justice and Constitution (Germany), Agenfor International (Italy), the West University of Timisoara (Romania), Penitentiary Bucharest Jilava (Romania) and the ICPA Stichting Foundation office in Europe (The Netherlands). The project is funded by the Directorate-General for Justice and Consumer of the European Commission.
BSAFE Lab – Law Enforcement, Justice and Public Safety Laboratory of Beira Interior University (Portugal), and partnered by IPS_Innovative Prison Systems (Portugal), Directorate-General for Reintegration and Prison Services (DGRSP/Portugal), College of Public Administration Bremen (Germany), Bremen Senate of Justice and Constitution (Germany), Agenfor International (Italy), the West University of Timisoara (Romania), Penitentiary Bucharest Jilava (Romania) and the ICPA Stichting Foundation office in Europe (The Netherlands). The project is funded by the Directorate-General for Justice and Consumer of the European Commission.
Answering an ever-growing need for radicalisation prevention training
The R4JUST project’s training in radicalisation prevention is getting positive feedback from professionals.
All the work carried out so far in developing and providing quality training is the answer to an ever-growing need for radicalisation prevention in the prison, probation and judicial contexts. The most recent data on the engagement of trainees for the courses that the R4JUST project offers has been evaluated by project partners.
The results and feedback received so far, about the course ‘Radicalisation prevention in the prison context’, have been overwhelmingly positive. The programme has been training practitioners from all partner countries (Portugal, Italy, Germany, Poland and Romania).
Moreover, the planned National Seminars have been completed across all the countries of the project consortium, creating opportunities to promote debate amongst participants and allowing the project to raise awareness for the problems discussed. The seminars focused on the topics of “Data protection policies regarding persons suspected or convicted of terrorism-related crimes” and “Improving prison, probation, and judicial staff competencies within the topic of P/CVE: The pressing need to restructure the training curricula of criminal justice professionals”.
What's next for the project?
The next events to conduct shortly include national roundtables, which aim to stimulate discussions across judicial professions about the problem of radicalisation and its implications.
In the training field, the project is delivering and preparing the piloting of further training courses such as those targeting judicial practitioners and relating to the effectiveness of exit strategies and programmes.
The R4JUST project’s training in radicalisation prevention is getting positive feedback from professionals.
All the work carried out so far in developing and providing quality training is the answer to an ever-growing need for radicalisation prevention in the prison, probation and judicial contexts. The most recent data on the engagement of trainees for the courses that the R4JUST project offers has been evaluated by project partners.
The results and feedback received so far, about the course ‘Radicalisation prevention in the prison context’, have been overwhelmingly positive. The programme has been training practitioners from all partner countries (Portugal, Italy, Germany, Poland and Romania).
Moreover, the planned National Seminars have been completed across all the countries of the project consortium, creating opportunities to promote debate amongst participants and allowing the project to raise awareness for the problems discussed. The seminars focused on the topics of “Data protection policies regarding persons suspected or convicted of terrorism-related crimes” and “Improving prison, probation, and judicial staff competencies within the topic of P/CVE: The pressing need to restructure the training curricula of criminal justice professionals”.
What's next for the project?
The next events to conduct shortly include national roundtables, which aim to stimulate discussions across judicial professions about the problem of radicalisation and its implications.
In the training field, the project is delivering and preparing the piloting of further training courses such as those targeting judicial practitioners and relating to the effectiveness of exit strategies and programmes.
Representatives of partner entities involved in R4JUST gathered in Poland and online for the project’s 4th Meeting.
The R4JUST (Radicalisation Prevention Competences’ Development Programme for Justice Professionals) project is exploring a multi-sectoral approach to enhance the competencies of staff in prison, probation and judicial settings to prevent and reduce the risk of radicalisation and violent extremism across the justice system.
The R4JUST (Radicalisation Prevention Competences’ Development Programme for Justice Professionals) project is exploring a multi-sectoral approach to enhance the competencies of staff in prison, probation and judicial settings to prevent and reduce the risk of radicalisation and violent extremism across the justice system.
This fourth project meeting was organised on the 14th and 15th of December, 2021 by the Polish Platform of Homeland Security, in Poznan, Poland. The event had the participation of the project promoter BSAFE Lab – Law Enforcement, Justice and Public Safety Laboratory of Beira Interior University (Portugal), as well as IPS_Innovative Prison Systems (Portugal) and fellow project partners, namely, the Directorate-General for Reintegration and Prison Services (DGRSP/Portugal), the College of Public Administration Bremen (Germany), the Bremen Senate of Justice and Constitution (Germany), Agenfor International (Italy), the West University of Timisoara (Romania), the Penitentiary Bucharest Jilava (Romania) and the ICPA Stichting Foundation office in Europe (The Netherlands). The project is funded by the Directorate-General for Justice and Consumer of the European Commission.
The R4JUST (Radicalisation Prevention Competences’ Development Programme for Justice Professionals) project is exploring a multi-sectoral approach to enhance the competencies of staff in prison, probation and judicial settings to prevent and reduce the risk of radicalisation and violent extremism across the justice system.
This fourth project meeting was organised on the 14th and 15th of December, 2021 by the Polish Platform of Homeland Security, in Poznan, Poland. The event had the participation of the project promoter BSAFE Lab – Law Enforcement, Justice and Public Safety Laboratory of Beira Interior University (Portugal), as well as IPS_Innovative Prison Systems (Portugal) and fellow project partners, namely, the Directorate-General for Reintegration and Prison Services (DGRSP/Portugal), the College of Public Administration Bremen (Germany), the Bremen Senate of Justice and Constitution (Germany), Agenfor International (Italy), the West University of Timisoara (Romania), the Penitentiary Bucharest Jilava (Romania) and the ICPA Stichting Foundation office in Europe (The Netherlands). The project is funded by the Directorate-General for Justice and Consumer of the European Commission.
Raising awareness towards radicalisation among criminal justice practitioners
Understanding the pressing need to inform a wide range of criminal justice operators and LEAs on the matter of radicalisation and P/CVE
Responding to the goal of capacitating prison, probation and judicial practitioners on radicalisation and P/CVE while promoting multi-disciplinary cooperation, R4JUST organised 10 National Seminars in 5 European countries, actively engaging participants on discussing these matters.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, National Seminars were organised online between November 2020 and July 2021, gathering a total of 1005 prison, probation and judicial participants from Germany, Italy, Poland, Portugal and Romania.
In one hand, the first round of National Seminars focused on the matters of data protection and GDPR, particularly regarding persons convicted of terrorism charges and/or in the deradicalisation process, with a special focus on each of the partner countries. This counted with presentations from experts from the HfÖV - University for Public Administration (Germany), Agenfor International (Italy), the Polish Platform for Homeland Security (Poland), IPS_Innovative Prison Systems & Universidade da Beira Interior/BSAFE Lab (Portugal), and the University West Timisoara & Jilava Bucharest Penitentiary (Romania).
Understanding the pressing need to inform a wide range of criminal justice operators and LEAs on the matter of radicalisation and P/CVE
Responding to the goal of capacitating prison, probation and judicial practitioners on radicalisation and P/CVE while promoting multi-disciplinary cooperation, R4JUST organised 10 National Seminars in 5 European countries, actively engaging participants on discussing these matters.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, National Seminars were organised online between November 2020 and July 2021, gathering a total of 1005 prison, probation and judicial participants from Germany, Italy, Poland, Portugal and Romania.
In one hand, the first round of National Seminars focused on the matters of data protection and GDPR, particularly regarding persons convicted of terrorism charges and/or in the deradicalisation process, with a special focus on each of the partner countries. This counted with presentations from experts from the HfÖV - University for Public Administration (Germany), Agenfor International (Italy), the Polish Platform for Homeland Security (Poland), IPS_Innovative Prison Systems & Universidade da Beira Interior/BSAFE Lab (Portugal), and the University West Timisoara & Jilava Bucharest Penitentiary (Romania).
On the other hand, the second round of National Seminars gave an overview of central theoretical aspects related to radicalisation and P/CVE, the importance of exit programmes, as well as the pressing need to train practitioners in this field. Once again, the events counted with the knowledge of experts from each country, as well as with relevant know-how sharing from participants, resulting in fruitful discussions on the topics.
R4JUST Kick-off Meeting
The 23rd and 24th of January were marked by the Kick-off Meeting of the R4JUST project “Radicalisation Prevention Competences’ Development Programme for Justice Professionals”.
The consortium gathered in Lisbon to discuss the project’s main goals, such as the implementation of a multi-sectoral approach to prevent radicalisation and violent extremism in prisons, namely through the enhancement of practitioners’ skills (including probation staff, prison staff as well as judges and prosecutors).
R4JUST builds upon and will use a comprehensive radicalisation assessment toolset developed and successfully piloted in the scope of the R2PRIS, besides following the training approach and findings of the INTEGRA and WayOut projects, respectively.
IPS headquarters hosted representatives from the partner organisations, representing diverse areas of intervention. BSAFE LAB – Law Enforcement, Justice and Public Safety Research and Technology Transfer Lab, Beira Interior University (PT) BSAFE LAB | UBI[PL1] (Portugal)will be leading the consortium as project coordinator, besides co-jointly contributing to the project’s theoretical research with the West University of Timisoara (RO) and the College of Public Administration Bremen (DE). The latter will team-up with IPS_Innovative Prison Systems (PT) to develop a training course on the effectiveness of exit strategies, while IPS and Agenfor International (IT) will also develop training courses on radicalisation prevention for prison, probation and judicial staff. All project’s Work Packages will benefit from valuable inputs provided by the Federal Public Service of Justice (BE), the Bremen Senate of Justice and Constitution (DE), the Directorate-General for Prison and Probation and Services (PT), as well as the Penitentiary Bucharest Jilava (RO), which will also be key partners during R4JUST’s various piloting activities. Finally, the International Corrections and Prison Association (ICPA, NE) will be leading dissemination activities throughout the project’s lifespan.
The 23rd and 24th of January were marked by the Kick-off Meeting of the R4JUST project “Radicalisation Prevention Competences’ Development Programme for Justice Professionals”.
The consortium gathered in Lisbon to discuss the project’s main goals, such as the implementation of a multi-sectoral approach to prevent radicalisation and violent extremism in prisons, namely through the enhancement of practitioners’ skills (including probation staff, prison staff as well as judges and prosecutors).
R4JUST builds upon and will use a comprehensive radicalisation assessment toolset developed and successfully piloted in the scope of the R2PRIS, besides following the training approach and findings of the INTEGRA and WayOut projects, respectively.
IPS headquarters hosted representatives from the partner organisations, representing diverse areas of intervention. BSAFE LAB – Law Enforcement, Justice and Public Safety Research and Technology Transfer Lab, Beira Interior University (PT) BSAFE LAB | UBI[PL1] (Portugal)will be leading the consortium as project coordinator, besides co-jointly contributing to the project’s theoretical research with the West University of Timisoara (RO) and the College of Public Administration Bremen (DE). The latter will team-up with IPS_Innovative Prison Systems (PT) to develop a training course on the effectiveness of exit strategies, while IPS and Agenfor International (IT) will also develop training courses on radicalisation prevention for prison, probation and judicial staff. All project’s Work Packages will benefit from valuable inputs provided by the Federal Public Service of Justice (BE), the Bremen Senate of Justice and Constitution (DE), the Directorate-General for Prison and Probation and Services (PT), as well as the Penitentiary Bucharest Jilava (RO), which will also be key partners during R4JUST’s various piloting activities. Finally, the International Corrections and Prison Association (ICPA, NE) will be leading dissemination activities throughout the project’s lifespan.
