Handbook of Restorative Justice

Source: (2007) Cullompton, Devon: Willan Publishing.

“Aimed at students, practitioners, policy-makers, researchers — and, indeed, anybody curious about restorative justice and the future of criminal justice — the Handbook: explains how the campaign for restorative justice arose and developed into the influential global social movement it is today; elucidates and discusses the key concepts and principles of restorative justice; analyzes the relationship of restorative justice to more conventional concepts of criminal justice; discusses the roots of restorative justice in ancient approaches to conflict resoltuion, aboriginal justice, religious texts and the victims’ movement; examines issues of gender and race as they are dealt with within the field of restorative justice; describes the variety of restorative justice practices, explains how they have developed in various places and contexts, and critically examines their rationales and effects; identifies and examines the various ways by which restorative justice is being (and might be) integrated into mainstream responses to crime and strategies of regulation and the various contexts in which restorative justice has been developed; summarizes the results so far of empirical evaluations of restorative justice and looks critically at the assumptions and methods of these studies; outlines the global development and appeal of restorative justice; and critically examines the rhetoric, practices and policies of restorative justice and discusses its future.” (excerpt)