Critique of Restorative Justice.

Source: (2004) Social Justice. 31(3): 147-163.

As Paul Tagaki and Gregory Shank detail, restorative justice principles and processes have received widespread attention in recent decades. They have been put into practice at many levels of society and government in numerous countries. The United Nations itself has been a significant agent in endorsing and promoting restorative justice. While acknowledging these developments, Tagaki and Shank step back from attempting to review the voluminous literature on restorative justice. Rather, they concentrate on seeking a detailed, in-depth comprehension of the Maori restorative tradition in New Zealand, for there the movement for restorative justice has gone the furthest. This includes examination of the history of the Maori restorative tradition, key legislation in New Zealand, a case history from New Zealand, the conference or conferencing model, the idea and place of community, shaming as reintegration, and the etiology of crime. In the course of this, they explore serious questions about evaluation of the effectiveness of restorative justice, and questions about the nature of community in the restorative justice paradigm and in real places.