Restoring Justice: An Introduction to Restorative Justice

Source: (2006) Third Edition. Cincinnati, OH: Anderson Publishing Co.

Restorative justice views crime as an event that harms the victim, the offender, and the community; and it views the community’s response to crime as an effort to address those harms through various means. The first part of this book contains three chapters that explore the concept of restorative justice and how it differs from the more traditional view that crime is primarily a violation of law that requires identifying, apprehending, and punishing the offender in accordance with the severity of the crime. One of the chapters presents a brief history of restorative justice as the emergence of a new pattern of thinking about crime and how a society can best respond to it. The proposed definition of “restorative justice” is “a theory of justice that emphasizes repairing the harm caused or revealed by criminal behavior. It is best accomplished through cooperative processes that include all stakeholders.” The book’s second part has four chapters that discuss the four “cornerposts” of restorative justice: “encounter,” which identifies the harms caused by the crime; “amends,” which develops means of addressing the harms; “reintegration,” which marshals community resources for the benefit of victims and offenders; and “inclusion,” which includes victim input and participation in any formal criminal proceedings. The three chapters of part 3 identify and discuss the challenges of implementing restorative justice in a contemporary criminal justice settings. This includes a proposed framework for assessing the “restorativeness” of an existing system and how needed changes can be made. The concluding part of the book discusses 10 issues that are often raised in convincing policymakers to put restorative justice principles into practice. A 391-item bibliography, subject and author indexes, and appended United Nations statement of basic principles on the use of restorative justice programs in criminal matters. Abstract courtesy of National Criminal Justice Refernece Service, www.ncjrs.gov.