“Republicanism and restorative justice: An explanatory and normative connection.”

Source: (2000) In Restorative justice: Philosophy to practice, ed. Heather Strang and John Braithwaite, 145-163. Burlington, Vermont, U.S.: Ashgate Publishing Company.

John Braithwaite and Philip Pettit argue that satisfactory approaches to the organization and direction of society should be both normatively attractive and significant and plausibly explanatory about the things people do individually and collectively. In other words, a normative ideal about society should point toward a plausible explanatory category of human behavior, and conversely an explanatory category should point toward a significantly attractive normative ideal. On this basis, the authors seek to show the intimate connection between republicanism and restorative justice. Specifically, in this chapter they argue that the explanatory aspect of the republican ideal of freedom as non-domination provides a normative argument for criminal justice organized and directed in terms of restorative justice.