Source: (2004) Paper presented at “New Frontiers in Restorative Justice: Advancing Theory and Practice”, Centre for Justice and Peace Development, Massey University at Albany, New Zealand, 2-5 December.
This paper, which draws on my doctoral research, will explore some issues surrounding the history of restorative justice. In the initial conference brief, we were told that restorative justice had emerged from “modest beginnings” some thirty years ago. Usually, both the history of restorative justice, and the significance of this history on current practice, is overlooked. This paper will attempt to address this by critiquing the various histories of restorative justice that have been out forward, and outlining an alternative method of examining the past of restorative justice – genealogy. Genealogy, or “history of the present”, seeks to explore how a particular phenomenon – in this case, restorative justice – came into being. In other words, why restorative justice, and why now? This method of inquiry elicits a historical picture quite different to that which we are usually offered in the restorative justice literature. This paper will report on the results of my research – and this developing picture of the emergence of restorative justice – to date. Abstract courtesy of the Centre for Justice and Peace Development, Massey University, http://justpeace.massey.ac.nz.
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