Victim Forgiveness in Restorative Justice Dialogue.

Source: (2006) Victims and Offenders. 1(2):123-140.

The burgeoning interest in the healing potential of victim forgiveness has predictably pulled the field of restorative justice into the limelight because of its ability to achieve emotional repair for crime victims in ways that influence a forgiveness response. This article delineates the unique dimensions of forgiveness in restorative justice programs, and makes recommendations about how to research forgiveness in ways that protect the uniqueness of each victim’s process and guard against the imposition of moral or religious prescriptions to forgive. (author’s abstract).