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Over the past half-century, the «politics of memory» have emerged theoretically and practically as a key dimension of that constellation of non-punitive instruments of «redemption» from past atrocities that we are accustomed to approximate through the notions of «reparative» or «restorative justice». Far from in agreement, however, appear to date scholarly judgments on the deeper political significance assumed by this type of measure in the specific context of processes of transition to peace and democracy. The essay aims to reconstruct and discuss the main lines of development of this intense debate, focusing in particular on the controversial relationship between memories of violence, transitional justice, and collective agency that constitutes the central theme of this issue of Scienza & Politica.

Sob forte cobrança da Decisão-Quadro n. 2001/200/JAI, de 15 de março de 2001 e na esteira de outras reformas promovidas em seu sistema de justiça penal, o Estado de Portugal, por meio da Lei n. 21/2007, introduziu em seu ordenamento jurídico a mediação penal como forma alternativa de solução de litígios. Passada pouco mais de uma década, no entanto, os números indicam que algo não anda bem na implementação do instituto. Nesse contexto, por meio da oitiva de alguns dos atores envolvidos na realização da mediação penal em Portugal, da análise dos dados estatísticos existentes, bem como das pesquisas anteriormente realizadas sobre a temática, buscamos compreender as causas desse aparente insucesso e, principalmente fazer um diagnóstico sobre as possibilidades de recondução do instituto aos trilhos, o que evitaria que a mediação penal em Portugal alcançasse o seu fim., Under heavy demand from Framework Decision n. 2001/220/JAI, of March 15, 2001, and in the wake of other reforms promoted in its criminal justice system, the State of Portugal, through Law n. 21/2007, introduced criminal mediation in its legal system as an alternative way of resolving disputes. A little more than a decade later, however, the numbers indicate that something is not going well in the institute’s implementation. In this context, by listening to some of the actors involved in carrying out criminal mediation in Portugal, analyzing existing statistical data, as well as research previously carried out on the subject, we seek to understand the causes of this apparent failure and, above all, make a diagnosis on the possibilities of bringing the institute back on track, which would prevent criminal mediation in Portugal from reaching its end.