S.M. de Vries (Sabine)

As a PhD candidate I conduct research about alternatives to criminal justice in Suriname. The focus of my project is on identifying historical and contemporary resources that may empower Surinamese youth of various ethnicities in Paramaribo to settle disputes and respond to law-breaking, and how these may help charting a new course for youth justice primarily focused on restoration and healing.
Restoration and healing lie at the core of Restorative Justice (RJ), which makes it into a central theme of my research. Although RJ has been reducing recidivism in other parts of the world, the question arose whether this concept would also work in Suriname. During my pre-study among ex-delinquent youth on Restorative Justice various reasons surfaced that motivated me to further explore this topic. For one, the Maroon and Indigenous tribes in Suriname have managed their society for decades in RJ-style, through a legal device that is called the ‘krutu’. The richness of their legal cultures is the starting point of my Mosaic PhD trajectory. Under the supervision of Toon van Meijl and Paul Mutsaers I aim to provide, through an ethnography among Surinamese youth, an overview of alternative ways of dealing with conflict and want to contribute to the transition of the current youth justice system for the sake of a more balanced and equal society.