Restorative justice around the world and in cases of mass victimisation (original) (raw)

An overview of restorative justice around the world

Restorative justice has become a global phenomenon in criminal justice systems. Resonating with, and in some cases drawing from, indigenous conceptions of justice, it offers both an alternative understanding of crime and new ways of responding to it. Restorative processes include victim-offender mediation, conferencing and circles; restorative outcomes include apology, amends to the victim and amends to the community. Restorative interventions are being used by police, prosecutors, judges, prison officials and probation and parole authorities. Restorative interventions have developed somewhat differently from region to region, but in many cases, countries have found it useful to adopt appropriate legislation. Human rights and other objections or critiques of restorative justice have been raised. Due in part to this, the UN has endorsed the Declaration of Basic Principles on the Use of Restorative Justice Programmes in Criminal Matters. An overview of restorative justice around the world 1 We brought the needle to sew the torn social fabric, not the knife to cut it.

Towards Restorative Justice

Social Science Research Network, 2002

Human conflicts are basic to human societies. Crime symbolizes a major form of conflict in the society. It deprives the victim from their fundamental human rights specially those pertain to life, liberty and safety. The mankind has always been instrumental in finding the most effective ways to resolve conflicts or crime in the society. The advent of the criminal justice system was the consequence of similar efforts. The experiences in most countries of the world tell us that the formal system of criminal justice, due to various reasons, has not been fully successful in achieving its objectives. Mounting arrears in the court, delay in disposal of cases and consistently rising rate of acquittals resulted in the loss of public confidence in the system. Besides, it was felt that the victims of crime who ought to be in the center are often marginalized in the criminal justice process. Whatever may be the outcome of the case in the court, the fact remains that the victim does not get any ...

25 Restorative Justice case studies

RJ4All Publications, 2017

This edited collection brings together 25 real case studies (plus 2 bonus case studies) written by leading practitioners from around the world. The case studies cover issues such as domestic violence, murder, hate crimes, theft and youth violence. Table of contents Introduction: Dr. Theo Gavrielides Case study 1: Restorative justice & murder – Indiana, USA | Bill Pelke Case Study 2: Restorative justice & theft – Surrey, England | Dr Bettina Jung Case Study 3: Restorative justice & human rights education, England | Prof. Richard Grimes Case Study 4: Restorative justice & bike theft – Stockport, England | Project Cycloan, Stockport Council, Youth Offending Service Case Study 5: Restorative justice & school altercations – Rochester, USA | James A Termotto Sr Case Study 6: Restorative justice & theft – London, England | Ben Lyon Case Study 7: Intimate Partner Violence by female & Restorative Justice, New Zealand | Dr Anne Hayden Case Study 8: Restorative justice & race inequality – Hawaii, USA | Lorenn Walker Case Study 9: Restorative justice & drunken driving causing death, Scotland | Ben Lyon Case Study 10: Restorative justice & Assault, England | Gillian Cox Case Study 11: Restorative justice & assault – Huddersfield, England | Michael Bunting Case Study 12: Restorative justice & vandalism – Kitchener, Canada | Judah Oudshoorn Case Study 13: Restorative Justice and youth gangs, Somerset- England | Brenda Smith Case Study 14: Restorative Justice and bullying, Somerset- England | Brenda Smit Case Study 15: Restorative Justice and bullying, Somerset- England | Brenda Smith Case Study 16: Restorative Justice and assault, Somerset- England | Brenda Smith Case Study 17: Restorative Justice and rape, Denmark | Karin Sten Madsen Case Study 18: Restorative justice in prison – Canada| Judah Oudshoorn Case Study 19: Restorative Justice and vandalism, Wales – UK | Carol Slater Case Study 20: Restorative Justice & School Sexual Harassment, Maryland – USA | Lauren Abramson Case Study 21: Restorative Justice and Neighbourhood Conflict, USA | Written by Lauren Abramson, Case facilitated by Misty Fae Case Study 22: Restorative Justice and theft by youth, Maryland – USA | Written by Lauren Abramson, Case facilitated by Nel Andrews Case Study 23: Restorative Justice and theft by youth, Maryland – USA | Written by Lauren Abramson, Case facilitated by Cynthia Lemons Case Study 24: Restorative justice and theft, London – UK | Monica Paladin Case 25: My Experience with Restorative Justice, Canada | Margot Van Sluytman Bonus Case study 1: Restorative Justice & in-prison conflict – West Midlands, England | Ben Lyon & Barbara Tudor Bonus Case study 2: Restorative justice & burglary – Belfast, Northern Ireland | Ben Lyon

Restorative Justice: Variations on a Theme

This paper is the result of work conducted by the Working Party of Restorative Justice of the Alliance of NGOs on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice. After a brief history and overview of restorative justice, the results of a quasi-scientific effort conducted by the Working Party to develop a consensual meaning using an email version of a Delphi method is presented. Finally, this paper will attempt to characterize the variety of understandings among scholars of restorative justice as of 1997.

Dimensions of Restorative Justice

Journal of Social Issues, 2006

Restorative justice proponents tend to focus their attention on criminal justice initiatives in a small number of developed countries, but restorative processes (which encourage citizens to negotiate among themselves, rather than rely on professionals to adjudicate), and restorative values (which emphasize the importance of repairing and preventing harm), can be found across a wide range of regulatory fields. Teachers, social workers, corporate regulators, civil mediators, members of truth commissions, diplomats, and peacekeepers all—at least some of the time—practice a variety of restorative justice. Consideration of these often‐neglected examples can help refine current restorative justice theory and practice, which in turn has insights to offer practitioners and researchers in these fields.

the fundamentals of restorative justice

RESTORATIVE JUSTICE is conceived of in this essay as a process in which all the stakeholders affected by an injustice have the opportunity to discuss the consequences of the injustice and what might be done to put them right. This is a process conception of restorative justice by which what is to be restored is left open. Rather, the form of restoration of victims, of offenders and of communities that count are those found to be important in such a restorative justice process. Beyond the process conception, there is also a values conception of restorative justice. The key value is that because injustice hurts, justice should heal. Responding to pain with 'another spoonful of pain' 1 is seen as a less satisfactory response than responding with healing or repair. A reason is that hurt tends to beget hurt, creating a vicious spiral of retribution and feuding. Alternatively, it is possible to flip this dynamic into one of healing begetting healing — a virtuous circle. I have argued that the key value of restorative justice is non-domination. 2 The active part of this value is empowerment. Empowerment means preventing the state from 'stealing conflicts' 3 from people who want to hang on to those conflicts and learn from working them through in their own way. Empowerment should trump other restorative justice values like forgiveness, healing and apology, important as they are. This means that if stakeholders in