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Restorative approaches to working with hate crime offenders.

Walters, Mark Austin
June 4, 2015

Source: (2014) In: N. Chakraborti and G Garland (2014) Responding to hate crime: the case for connecting policy and research. The Policy Press, Bristol, pp. 247-261. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2470096.

The lack of victim support and offender edification offered by retributive hate crime laws suggests that a new or additional approach is needed when tackling hate-motivated offences (Burney, 2003: 36; Perry, 2003: 44). With this in mind, a growing number of academics have begun to explore the effectiveness of using a restorative approach to tackling the phenomenon (see, Shenk, 2001; Umbreit et al, 2002; Gavrielides, 2007; Walters & Hoyle, 2010; 2012). This chapter adds to the small but growing knowledge base on restorative justice (RJ) for hate crime by focusing on the potential benefits that restorative practices may yield in relation to transforming the behaviours of hate crime offenders. Drawing upon empirical research undertaken for the author’s doctorate, the chapter explores the ways in which restorative practices have been used to effectively challenge and modify the hate-motivated behaviours of offenders, while simultaneously protecting participants against re-victimisation. (author’s abstract)

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