Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Introduction -- Notes on contributors -- List of figures and tables -- I Discussing the principles of restorative justice -- 1 Is it time to question the concept of punishment? -- 2 Restorative justice: a discussion of punishment -- 3 Alternative conflict resolution and restorative justice: a discussion -- II Evaluating aspects of restorative practices -- 4 A survey of assessment research on mediation and conferencing -- 5 Evaluating the practice of restorative justice: the case of family group conferencing -- 6 Differences in how girls and boys respond to family group conferences: preliminary research results -- 7 Juvenile offenders' perceptions of community service -- III Extending the scope of restorative approaches -- 8 Researching the prospects for restorative justice practice in schools: the 'Life at School Survey' 1996-9 -- 9 Community mediation, criminal justice and restorative justice: rearranging the institutions of law -- 10 Restorative justice for adult offenders: the New Zealand experience -- 11 Restorative justice in prison? -- IV Positioning restorative justice in different countries -- 12 The possibilities for restorative justice in Serbia -- 13 Alternative practices for juvenile justice in Flanders (Belgium): the case for mediation -- 14 Preparing the South African community for implementing a new restorative child justice system -- 15 Positioning mediation in the criminal justice system: the Italian 'justice of the peace' -- 16 Anthropological reflections on restoring justice in Norway -- 17 Implementing family group conferences in Belgium -- 18 The future of the Japanese criminal justice system -- Index.

Restorative justice has become an increasingly important element in reform and change to criminal justice systems throughout the western world, and there are many reasons for satisfaction with the progress that has been made --from the point of view of victims, offenders, the level and incidence of reoffending, and in terms of public opinion. At the same time there has been cause for concern, not least to do with the confusion on aims that has accompanied the rapid spread of restorative justice practices, an over-estimate of its possibilities, a blurring of concepts and a lack of attention to legal rights and processes. This book, based on papers presented at the 5th international conference held at Leuven, Belgium in 2002, aims to provide an overview of recent experience of restorative justice in the light of these concerns. The central theme is the positioning, or repositioning, of restorative justice in contexts where it can offer hope to communities both fearful of crime and looking for more socially constructive responses to crime. At the same time restorative justice practitioners seek definition in relation to the kinds of crime it is appropriate to apply restorative justice to, how it relates to different forms of punishment, to rehabilitation, and how it fits in with criminal justice systems and the law of different countries --how to reconcile the informal, participatory philosophy of restorative justice with formal legal processes and the need for legal safeguards.

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Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2018. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.