Theo Gavrielides

Theo Gavrielides is a legal philosopher and an expert in restorative justice, youth policy, crime prevention, equalities, human rights and criminal justice. He is the Founder and Director of the Restorative Justice for All (RJ4All) International Institute. He has published extensively in the areas of restorative justice, human rights, violent radicalisation, power and hate crimes and youth justice. He is a Greek Londoner, and was born in Cyprus.

Career

As a criminologist, he is interested in the role of Restorative Justice and how it can work alongside the criminal justice and youth justice systems. His 2021 monograph “Power, Race & Justice: The restorative dialogue we won't have” exposes the issue of power abuse, while it develops a philosophy for restorative justice as a bio-power for countering human rights abuses, inequality and racism. In 2021, he introduced the concept of “comparative restorative justice” and in 2013 the concept of “restorative justice pain” as an alternative to punishment.

Gavrielides is also the Founder of RJ4ALL Publications and RJ4All Sports. Professor Gavrielides is the editor-in-chief of the peer-reviewed Internet Journal of Restorative Justice (IJRJ) and the Youth Voice Journal. He was also the Editor in Chief of the International Journal of Human Rights in Healthcare for 11 years.

Gavrielides is the recipient of the 2020 Civic Award of the Liberty of the Old Metropolitan Borough of Bermondsey.

In 2001, he founded The IARS International Institute a charitable NGO providing community voice to marginalized groups. After 20 years of running it as its director, he stepped down.

In 2013, he created the Restorative Justice for All International Institute (RJ4All), a community-led NGO aiming to balance power in society through the use of restorative justice values and practices. He oversees the RJ4All Community Centre delivering several free restorative justice services to communities. From the RJ4All Centre, Gavrielides is piloting a multi-year research and implementation programme that aims to build the world's first restorative justice post code. A restorative justice postcode will more equally distribute power throughout the community and address harm through restorative justice practices. With an understanding of restorative justice principles, key stakeholders will collaborate to alleviate poverty, reduce crime, support young people, celebrate diversity, and repair harm.

In 2005, he received a PhD in Restorative Justice from the London School of Economics and Political Science,

In 2007, his monograph “Restorative Justice Theory and Practice” was published by the European Institute for Crime Prevention and Control affiliated with the United Nations (HEUNI).

He was admitted to the Bar by the Bar Standards Board of England and Wales and called to the Bar (Middle Temple Inn) in 2023. He also earned an LL.M in Human Rights from Nottingham University and a Law Degree from the National Kapodistrian University of Athens.

Gavrielides is currently a visiting professor at the School of Psychology of the University of East London, and a visiting professor at Buckinghamshire New University. University. He also served as a Distinguished Policy Fellow at the School of Regulation and Global Governance (REGNet), Australian National University and as an Adjunct Professor at the School of Criminology of Simon Fraser University (Canada). Previously, he was the Human Rights Advisor of the UK Ministry of Justice and he has served on several boards including organisations such as the Anne Frank Trust, the Community Scrutiny Panel of the Crown Prosecution Service and the Independent Advisory Group of the London Criminal Justice Partnership.

Restorative justice

Theo Gavrielides argues that restorative justice can act not only as a philosophy of criminal justice, but also for ethics. Following fieldwork that he conducted with 250 restorative justice practitioners he coined a definition of restorative justice that puts emphasis on its nature as an "ethos" (Gavrielides, 2007). According to Gavrielides:

“Restorative Justice is an ethos with practical goals, among which is to restore harm by including affected parties in a (direct or indirect) encounter and a process of understanding through voluntary and honest dialogue. Restorative justice adopts a fresh approach to conflicts and their control, retaining at the same time certain rehabilitative goals” (Gavrieldies, 2007).

Gavrielides argued that "restorative justice must mean "the balancing of injustice through the re-affirmation of a shared valued-consensus in a voluntary, equalitarian and bilateral dialogue" Gavrielides also believes that it is important that we are not limited by the narrow definitions of what restorative justice is, or what isn't. Restorative justice is a lived experience. Gavrielides argues that restorative justice is more than just a series of practices or a set of values. He claimed that restorative justice is a comprehensive set of justifications of structures, or lack of structures, for the pursuit of justice.

Selected books and articles

• Gavrielides, T. (2025), Addressing Violent Radicalisation and Extremism: A Restorative Justice & Psychosocial Approach, New York: Springer.
• Gavrielides, T. (2022). Introduction to Restorative Justice Art: Four steps to restoring mental health, London: RJ4All Publications. ISBN 978-1-911634-52-2. doi:10.13140/RG.2.2.29019.23848.
• Valez, G. and Gavrielides, T. (2022). Restorative Justice: Promoting Peace and Wellbeing, New York: Springer.
• Gavrielides, T. (2021). Comparative Restorative Justice, New York: Springer.
• Gavrielides, T. (2021). Power, Race & Justice: The restorative dialogue we won't have. Abingdon: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-4724-8835-0
• Gavrielides, T. (2020). Restorative Justice Theory and Practice: Addressing the Discrepancy, 2nd Edition London: RJ4All Publications, ISBN 978-1-911634-17-1.
• Gavrielides, T. (2019). Collapsing the criminal labels of domestic violence: A social and restorative justice approach, London: RJ4All Publications.
• Gavrielides, T. (2018). "Victims and the restorative justice ambition: A London case study of potentials, assumptions and realities". Contemporary Justice Review: Issues in Criminal, Social, and Restorative Justice, pp. 1-22.
• Gavrielides, T. (2016). “Repositioning Restorative Justice in Europe: The Victims’ Directive”, Victims & Offenders Vol. 11, Iss. 1, pp. 71-86.
• Gavrielides, T. (2015). The Psychology of Restorative Justice: Managing the Power Within. Ashgate Publishing: Furnham, ISBN 978-1-4724-5530-7.
• Gavrielides, T. (2015). “The Victims’ Directive and What Victims Want from Restorative Justice", Victims and Offenders Journal, Vol: 10. Issue 2. pages 1-22. DOI 10.1080/15564886.2014.982778.
• Gavrielides, T. (2015). Restorative Justice, The Library of Essays on Justice, Ashgate Publishing: Furnham, UK. ISBN 978-1-4724-4120-1.
• Gavrielides, T. and G. Loseby (2014). The Wind of Change: Comparative Lessons for Restorative Justice in South Africa and the United Kingdom, London: RJ4All Publications, ISBN 978-1-911634-04-1.
• Gavrielides, T. and Vasso Artinopoulou (2013). Reconstructing restorative justice philosophy. Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate. ISBN 978-1-4094-7073-1.
• Gavrielides, T. (2012). Rights and Restoration Within Youth Justice. de Sitter Publications. ISBN 978-1-897160-62-6.
• Gavrielides, T. (2008) “Human rights and customer satisfaction with public services: a relationship discovered”, Vol 12:2 International Journal of Human Rights, 187-202.
• Gavrielides, T. (2008) “Restorative justice: the perplexing concept. Conceptual fault lines and power battles within the restorative justice movement”,8:2 Criminology and Criminal Justice Journal, 165-183.
• Gavrielides, T. (2007) Restorative Justice Theory & Practice: Addressing the Discrepancy, HEUNI: Helsinki. ISBN 978-952-5333-32-9.

External links

Official website