Justice perceptions and practices of restorative justice facilitators and the public

Abstract

Restorative justice proponents argue that a restorative approach to criminal justice is fundamentally different from the traditional approach to justice enacted by the court system. Third-party facilitators, who represent this alternative approach, are typically responsible for educating people about what restorative justice is, establishing the legitimacy of the restorative justice process, and persuading people to participate in this justice process. Perceptions of legitimacy and decisions to participate, in turn, are likely grounded in prescriptive justice beliefs as well as their perceptions of features of the traditional justice system. The purpose of the study was to compare prescriptive justice beliefs and traditional justice system perceptions held by facilitators and members of the general public. Additionally, the study examined how facilitators’ perceptions of their practices were connected to prescriptive justice beliefs and perceptions of restorative justice. Analysis of survey data revealed useful information about the groups’ perceptions of justice, the justice systems, and facilitators’ enactment of restorative justice.