Summary
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Restorative community justice has been called a new paradigm in the field of criminology and criminal justice and it is attracting a great deal of attention nationally and internationally. Community sanctioning panels are a promising example of how this model can be put into practice. There are numerous theoretical and practical issues to resolve when developing these projects. This dissertation is a case study of the Piney Ridge Project (PRP), which was a restorative community justice initiative that utilized community sanctioning panels for youth in the southeastern United States. The implementation and effectiveness of this initiative were evaluated to shed light on the viability of this new approach. Five research techniques were used to collect data: participant observation, surveys, interviews, focus groups, and official data analysis. Data was triangulated from criminal justice personnel, project staff, community members, and the projects’ clients. Many lessons were learned through this study. Analysis show that PRP made beginning steps toward realizing key principles of the model, however the project encountered significant obstacles, and shortcomings were evident. It is anticipated that lessons learned from PRP will be valuable for scholars as well as practitioners intending to implement restorative community justice projects. Author's abstract.
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