Restorative Justice and Corporate Regulation

Source: (2003) In, Elmar Weitekamp and Hans-Jurgen Kerner, eds. Restorative Justice in Context: International Practice and Directions.Devon, UK and Portland Oregon: Willan Publishing. Pp. 161-172.

Democratic, deliberative empowerment is one of the values of restorative justice. Nowhere is it more profoundly realized than in nursing home regulation. In contemporary societies, no one is more powerless than nursing home residents. Criminal prosecutions are important in nursing home regulation. Care planning conferences are also important, where best practice is for relatives and residents to meet with the care planning team to discuss any concerns about neglect and to set new care planning goals. Research on nuclear safety regulation was interpreted as supporting the efficacy of reintegrative shaming in business regulation. The ideas of regulation that is conversational and empowering reducing corporate harm doing are related ideas. The relationship is established by the contribution to restorative justice theory that storytelling is empowering. Giving the least powerful people in societies voice is an important restorative justice value. Storytelling moves from a thin form of representative democracy to a thicker form of deliberative democracy. Such regulatory conversations can build micro-communities in contexts where they are sorely needed, such as schools and the workplace. Restorative practices can help prevent corporate crime. Because the evidence is not criminological, criminologists ignore this fact. There is a theoretical proposition that regulatory theory needs restorative theory. The subtext has been that restorative justice can learn from regulatory theory, particularly from responsive forms of regulatory theory. Abstract courtesy of National Crimnal Justice Reference Service, www.ncjrs.org.