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Summary

Bazemore, Gordon (1997). Crime Victims and Restorative Justice in Juvenile Courts: Judges as Obstacle or Leader? Western Criminology Review 1(1).

The central role of crime victims in restorative justice creates a number of dilemmas for offender-driven justice agencies. Neither the traditional juvenile justice response to youth crime focused on the "best interests" of the child nor the new retributive emphasis provide a role for crime victims as recipients of service or participants in juvenile justice. Based on the results of focus groups with juvenile court judges and victims of juvenile crime in four states, this paper presents qualitative findings on judicial support and resistance to the idea of the victim as a "client" of juvenile justice and a coparticipant in the justice process. The implications of restorative justice for reform in juvenile courts are also examined.

Link: wcr.sonoma.edu/v1n1/bazemore.html

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