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A Humanist Foundation for Restitution

Mackay, Robert
June 4, 2015

Source: (1993) Ratio Juris. 6(3): 324-336.

This paper makes a case for an ethical underpinning for restorative justice.
This approach is developed from a neo-Aristotelian perspective. It adapts the conceptual
framework of Alasdair MacIntyre for the articulation and resolution of epistemological
crises in traditions of enquiry, to the task of providing a critical and
analytic framework for considering the crisis of rationale and practice in the contemporary
criminal justice-penal archipelago. The author argues that Restitution,
conceived in neo-Aristotelian terms, provides a resolution of that crisis. Finally, he
foreshadows a debate to be had between the neo-Aristotelian position, and that of
Critical Theory on the issue of legitimizing Restitution. (author’s abstract)

Tags:

AbstractCourtsPost-Conflict ReconciliationPrisonsRestitutionRJ OfficeVictim Support
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