Source: (2011) e Annual Review of Interdisciplinary Justice Research. 2:35-54.
The potential of an apology as the beginning of a powerful
restorative process is borne out by the frequent public de-
mands from those wronged in various ways for an apology as
one crucial step in achieving justice and undoing the harm
that has been done. #e reconciliatory potential of this pro-
cess has also been highlighted by restorative justice advocates
as an important and powerful aspect of making amends and
restoring relations a$er the harm is done (Schneider, 2000,
Alexander, 2006). However, the other side of this process is
perhaps more frequently visible, a communicative action de-
signed also (or perhaps primarily) to restore the apologizer’s
self-image and demonstrate the apologizer to be a worthy
moral agent. Allan (2007) notes the distinction between an exclusively self focused (what I term here as “rehabilitativeâ€)
and self-other focused (what I will refer to as “restorativeâ€)
apology and the confusion in much of the scholarly literature
about this distinction1. Towner (2009) also distinguishes
between two categories of “apologetic rhetoric†– apologia
statements designed to restore self-image and reconciliatory
apologies designed to facilitate healing. (excerpt)
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