Nina Zolezzi | „We need to become bolder as a society“

"Daniela Hirt is a systemic family therapist, mediator, trauma pedagogue and specialist in domestic violence perpetrator work. Among other things, she works as a project coordinator for restorative justice programmes in the prison system based on the concept she developed, "Victim-oriented work in the prison system (BoAS)" In the podcast, she talks about the mother of a murdered daughter who sought and to some extent found healing by talking to imprisoned murderers.

Hartmut Kahle was a drug addict, offender and imprisoned. He says: "My story shows very clearly that we reduce people with prison sentences to their deviant behaviour and ascribe them the role of 'criminal' in society. To break this cycle, one thing is needed above all: acceptance, prospects and participation in the form of a new role in society." Today, he works for the Hoppenbank e.V. organisation, which addresses precisely these issues. He uses the lessons learnt from his own painful experiences to contribute to a sensible and humane approach to crime.

Christoph Willms is Head of the Service Office for Victim-Offender Mediation and Conflict Mediation of the DBH-Fachverband e.V., the German central office for the promotion of conflict mediation in criminal cases, which is funded by the Federal Ministry of Justice. As a qualified social worker and criminologist, he previously worked in various prisons in North Rhine-Westphalia, among other places. He knows only too well from theory and practice that inflicting further suffering does not help anyone. Participation, communication and 'genuine' acceptance of responsibility, on the other hand, can create a framework in which mutual understanding, joint clarification and any efforts to make amends can contribute to restoring social peace. In this episode of the podcast, he explains what this can look like in practice for both minor and serious injuries.