Evaluating the practice of restorative justice: the case of family group conferencing

Abstract

Restorative justice has grown increasingly popular, such that one current debate within restorative justice circles concerns the degree to which it can replace mainstream forms of justice (McCold 2000; Walgrave 2001). Informal interventions, such as victim-offender mediation, family group conferences and healing circles, are largely responsible for the success of restorative justice and are still the primary mechanisms by which restorative justice is transacted. Despite this, only limited empirical research has examined the dynamics of restorative interventions so as to explain how and why they are successful, though perhaps more than has occurred in relation to courtroom processes. This chapter takes some tentative steps towards considering these issues by identifying four aims that appear central to the practice of one restorative intervention: family group conferences.1 These broad procedural aims indicate which characteristics a successful conference should have and are used to propose a model for evaluating conferences2 . Identifying the aims of a restorative intervention also has implications for how the relationship between restorative justice and restorative interventions is conceptualised.