Restorative Justice in Practice : Evaluating What Works for Victims and Offenders

Restorative justice has made significant progress in recent years and now plays an increasingly important role in and alongside the criminal justice systems of a number of countries in different parts of the world. In many cases, however, successes and failures, strengths and weaknesses have not been evaluated sufficiently systematically and comprehensively, and it has been difficult to gain an accurate picture of its implementation and the lessons to be drawn from this.

Restorative Justice in Practice addresses this need, analyzing the results of the implementation of three restorative justice schemes in England and Wales in the largest and most complete trial of restorative justice with adult offenders worldwide. It aims to bring out the practicalities of setting up and running restorative justice schemes in connection with criminal justice, the costs of doing so and the key professional and ethical issues involved.

At the same time the book situates these findings within the growing international academic and policy debates about restorative justice, addressing a number of key issues for criminal justice and penology, including:

• how far victim expectations of justice are and can be met by restorative justice aligned with criminal justice
• whether ‘community’ is involved in restorative justice for adult offenders and how this relates to social capital
• how far restorative justice events relate to processes of desistance (giving up crime), promote reductions in reoffending and link to resettlement
• what stages of criminal justice may be most suitable for restorative justice and how this relates to victim and offender needs
• the usefulness of conferencing and mediation as forms of restorative justice with adults.

Restorative Justice in Practice will be essential reading for both students and practitioners, and a key contribution to the restorative justice debate.