From 11 to 13 October 2021, Prague hosted the conference “The Restoration of Normality: Mirroring the Past in the Future”. The conference was co-organised by the Czech Probation and Mediation Service and Confederation of European Probation. With nearly 70 participants from 15 EU countries it was the very fist face to face conference that took place after two nearly two years.

The opening speech of the conference was delivered by the Czech Minister of Justice, Mrs Marie Benešová, Secretary General to the Confederation of European Probation, Mr Willem van der Brugge, and Director General of the Probation and Mediation Service, Mrs Andrea Matoušková.

The conference focused on key probation topics with a focus on restorative justice practices, its usage within alternatives to detention and interagency cooperation such as: Development of Restorative Practice in Probation, Radicalisation and restoration in the community, Domestic violence, Social support and integration, Education and Training. Besides that two special roundtables took place: one inspired by the series of website articles “A day in a life of probation officer”, focusing on probation officers, and the other one presented by senior probation officers who shared their experience and their opinion on the future of probation.  

“I am pleased that the conference provided us with the opportunity to share best practice, knowledge and experience. I am also very happy that we had a chance to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Probation and Mediation Service with colleagues and friends from abroad who then provided us with experience and valuable advice. I would like to thank everyone who arrived in Prague to attend the conference. Big thanks belong to the Confederation of European Probation – an organisation which we are members of for more than ten years and thanks to which the second international conference could have taken place in Prague”, says Andrea Matoušková, Director General of the Probation and Mediation Service.

Presentations are available here: https://www.cep-probation.org/the-restoration-of-normality-mirroring-the-past-in-the-future-presentations-now-available/