Restorative justice asks a fundamentally different question from the one most criminal justice systems are built on. Instead of asking what law was broken and who must be punished, it asks who has been harmed, what their needs are, and how the community can take responsibility for addressing them. It is a question that has shaped the life work of Prof Theo Gavrielides, and he is now bringing it to the University of the Free State.
Prof Gavrielides is one of the world's leading authorities on restorative justice, with a career spanning grassroots community practice, national policy reform, and international peacebuilding. He is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of RJ4All Publications, the publishing arm of RJ4All, and has published extensively on social justice, peacebuilding, violent radicalisation and extremism, power and race, gender-based violence, institutional child abuse, youth justice, health and social care, and the legal philosophy of punishment.
Prof Gavrielides describes the appointment as an extension of a relationship rooted in shared values and a common commitment to humane, participatory, and community-centred justice.
"Restorative justice is rooted in the ancient African philosophy of Ubuntu," he says. "We are all interconnected independently of space and time. It is this connection that restorative justice aims to protect and repair when it is harmed. My recent connection with colleagues at the University of the Free State reignited my passion for building bridges between scholars and institutions from across the globe. I am honoured to take up this appointment at the University of the Free State, and I look forward to bringing my community-based approach into conversation with the Department of Criminology's teaching and research, and to learning, in turn, from the South African communities and the department's work with them."
A partnership built on purpose
RJ4All was established with the conviction that restorative justice is not simply an alternative to punishment, but a transformative framework for reimagining how communities respond to harm, conflict, and inequality. The institute's work spans research, policy advocacy, education, and community practice; its international network of scholars and practitioners reflects the global reach of the restorative justice movement.
The University of the Free State Department of Criminology has, over successive years, positioned itself as a serious intellectual home for the study of crime, justice, and social harm in Southern Africa. The department's engagement with international scholarship on restorative justice, rehabilitation, and community-based responses to crime makes the partnership with RJ4All a natural and substantive one.
For Prof Francois Steyn, Prof Gavrielides’ appointment represents a significant milestone for the department and the university, as his international standing and extensive experience in restorative justice research will strengthen our research capacity, enrich postgraduate supervision, and create new opportunities for global collaboration. “Beyond the university, the partnership provides a meaningful platform to advance restorative justice scholarship in South Africa by fostering dialogue between international expertise and local realities, ultimately contributing to innovative and evidence-based responses to crime, conflict, and community healing,” says Prof Steyn.
Why this matters for the University of the Free State
South Africa's criminal justice landscape is one of the most complex in the world. High rates of violent crime, an overcrowded prison system, persistent inequality, and deep community-level trauma create conditions that conventional punitive approaches have struggled to address meaningfully. Restorative justice, with its emphasis on dialogue, accountability, and community healing, offers a framework that is particularly well-suited to these realities.
The appointment of a scholar of Prof Gavrielides' standing in a South African university department is therefore not simply an academic distinction. It is an opportunity to bring internationally grounded restorative justice knowledge into conversation with the specific challenges and contexts faced by South African communities. Building bridges through European Union-funded research projects, publishing cutting-edge research, and supervising postgraduate students with an interest in restorative justice are Prof Gavrielides’ key priorities.
For the University of the Free State, whose North Star is the creation of responsible societal futures, the partnership with RJ4All is a concrete expression of what that commitment looks like in practice – knowledge that moves between the academy and the community, and that takes seriously the question of what justice actually requires.