Importance of victims: How does offense type affect restoration and reparation in restorative justice conferencing?

Abstract

Research indicates that, in comparison to traditional court processing, restorative justice enhances victim satisfaction. This is in part due to the opportunities for dialogue within the restorative approach that enables offender accountability and victim reparation. Yet, some crimes that occur may not involve a direct victim, which would have implications for whether victims are present and levels of restoration and reparation within restorative justice. Using data from the Australian Reintegrative Shaming Experiments (RISE), we examine how crime type affects restorative justice outcomes. We find that conferences involving victimless crimes enhance offender accountability and community reparation in comparison to other crimes.