Source: (2001) In, Brian Williams (ed.), Reparation And Victim-Focused Social Work (pp 34-44). London, UK: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
In 1974, Martinson wrote that, “nothing works”, with that simple assessment the Era of the Medical Model of Rehabilitation came to an abrupt end. In the not so distant future someone will publish an article that says that nothing works in the Restorative Justice Paradigm. If we do not work towards answering certain fundamental issues that are at the forefront, that future will be sooner rather than later. Contemporarily, the Restorative approach can be challenged from many different perspectives.
This proposal will examine critiques that include problems from the point of view of the victim, from that of the offender, the argument against the notion that Restorative Justice is a system wherein the community becomes more involved in the Justice process, and the lack of empirical research and adequate follow-up of current Restorative Justice programming. This presentation will then examine many internal problems within the so called movement of Restorative Justice advocates. There seems to be no effective converging Restorative Models, only antagonistic ones that fight to determine who has the true answer or the one solution.
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