Summary

Maxwell, Gabrielle and Morris, Allison and Van Ness, Daniel W (2001). Introducing restorative justice In Restorative justice for juveniles: Conferencing, mediation and circles, ed. Allison Morris and Gabrielle Maxwell, 3-16. With a foreword by DJ Carruthers. Oxford: Hart Publishing.

As an introduction to the themes of this book, the authors of the first chapter provide an overview of restorative justice by surveying its key principles and processes as identified by a number of restorative justice theorists and practitioners. Their overview includes the following topics: a discussion of restorative justice as a new paradigm or new way of approaching crime and response to crime; a sketch of the history of restorative justice; a definition of restorative justice; synopses of three hallmark programs (victim offender mediation; conferencing; and circles); and a review of worldwide developments related to restorative justice (including developments in and through the United Nations – an appendix to the chapter presents the United Nations’ preliminary draft elements of a declaration of basic principles on restorative justice).

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