Edited by John Braithwaite and Heather Strang. Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishing Company. 2001.
 
Reviewed by Greg Strong

 
The papers in this book come out of a 1999 conference conducted by the Restorative Justice Group (Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University) and sponsored by the Reshaping Australian Institutions project.
 
Representing a number of vigorous discussions occurring in criminal justice circles around the world, the authors collectively explore many dimensions of the interaction between theory and application in restorative justice. This discussion is an attempt to catch up with and to advance rapid innovation in restorative practices.  
 
Examples of issues addressed in the conference and book are:

•  restorative justice and the court system;  

• the relationship between retributive and restorative justice;  

• empowerment and retribution in criminal justice;

• retribution, confession, and shame;  

• restorative justice and the particularities of gender;  

• values and restorative justice in schools;  

• and republicanism and restorative justice.  

With a wide variety of experience and expertise, contributors include noted academics and researchers in criminology and law, the social sciences, and philosophy.

Chapter Summaries:

Restorative Justice: Courts and Civil Society.

Revisiting the Relationship Between Retributive and Restorative Justice.

Empowerment and Retribution in Criminal Justice.

Restorative Justice: Retribution, Confession and Shame.

Young Women Offenders and the Challenge for Restorative Justice.

Values and Restorative Justice in Schools.

Republicanism and Restorative Justice: An Explanatory and Normative Connection.

Restorative Justice and the Republican Theory of Criminal Justice: and Exercise in Normative Theorizing.

Decolonising Restoration and Justice in Transitional Cultures.

Connecting Philosophy and Practice.



 

February 2002