The spiritual roots of restorative justice

Source: (2001) With an introduction by Michael L. Hadley. SUNY series in religious studies, ed. Harold Coward. Albany, New York, USA: State University of New York Press.

This book consists of a set of papers examining religious and philosophical foundations for restorative justice. The papers grew out of the “Spiritual Roots” project, an interdisciplinary and international research project to explore multi-faith perspectives on crime and punishment, especially the traditional roots of those perspectives and how those roots relate to key ideas and practices of restorative justice. The perspectives examined come from a number of religious and philosophical traditions: aboriginal religion; Buddhism; Chinese philosophy and religion; Christianity; Hinduism; Islam; Judaism; and Sikhism. The distinctiveness of each tradition is respected, while their fundamental contributions to criminal justice issues are recognized. The collection also contains a substantial introduction by the editor to multi-faith reflection on criminal justice, a paper on philosophical theories of criminal punishment, and an epilogue describing specific instances where restorative practices were employed in aboriginal cases in Canada. Authors include academics and practitioners in the criminal justice sphere. The project and the book constitute a significant contribution to the exploration of religious dimensions in the formation of criminal justice ideas, perspectives, and practices.