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The Institutionalization of Restorative Justice in Canada: Effective Reform or Limited and Limiting Add-On?

Roach, Kent
June 4, 2015

Source: (2006) In, Ivo Aertsen, Tom Daems and Luc Robert, editors, Institutionalizing Restorative Justice. Cullompton, Devon and Portland: Willan Publishing Press pp.167-190

This chapter discusses the institutionalization of restorative justice in Canada. It begins with an examination of how the language of restorative justice has been applied to the sentencing law of Canada as a means to achieve outcomes such as victim reparation. The second and third parts of the chapter discuss institutionalization in sentencing of Aboriginal offenders, as well as recent and unsuccessful attempts to extend restorative justice outcomes from the sentencing or Aboriginals to the sentencing of other disadvantaged offenders. The fourth section examines how Canada’s Youth Criminal Justice Act continues to institutionalize reparation while maintaining a flexible framework for the use of conferences that doe not require restorative justice. In conclusion, the author presents an initial evaluation of whether Canada has been effective in their attempts to institutionalize restorative justice.

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AbstractCourtsNorth America and CaribbeanPoliceRJ in SchoolsStatutes and Legislation
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