Abstract
While the criminological literature is abundant in studies on the functioning and effectiveness of restorative justice, there is a lack of engagement with policy on this subject, in spite of the increasing incorporation of restorative justice into policy frameworks. This paper contributes towards addressing this gap by mapping and discussing Scottish policy on restorative justice. The focus is placed on how policy frames restorative justice around certain problems, subjects and objects, reconstructing their underlying assumptions. Additionally, the paper analyses the cultural and political context within which those representations have emerged. From this perspective, it enhances the legibility of the particularly slow and fragmentary development of restorative justice in Scotland, compared to the rest of the UK. More generally, the paper provides an original (and relevant beyond British borders) case study on the interplay between cross-national and local, cultural and political factors in influencing policy change.
Highlights
Over the last three decades, there has been a relentless proliferation of studies on restorative justice (RJ) (Daly, 2016)
This paper examines policy documents produced in Scotland up to date (2019) which comprehensively address RJ in domestic criminal justice settings
This paper is informed by the idea that bringing to the fore policy’s unspoken assumptions and their cultural/political context, would generate some awareness of the bonds and signatures which drive the institutionalisation of RJ in context
Summary
Over the last three decades, there has been a relentless proliferation of studies on restorative justice (RJ) (Daly, 2016). The lack of interest around how policy frames RJ is problematic, since the Scottish Government has recently established a new policy framework on RJ aiming to support the wide development of RJ services across Scotland by 2023 (Scottish Government, 2017, 2018, 2019) Addressing this gap, this paper scrutinises the shifting representations of RJ within criminal and penal policy in Scotland, investigating both their underlying assumptions (Bacchi, 2000; Foucault, 1970, 1972) and cultural and political context (Maglione, 2017a, 2017b, 2018a). The paper traces original historical links between the ‘return of the victim’, penal welfarism and RJ From this viewpoint, it argues that the recent emergence in Scotland of a victim-centred RJ is related to global cultural pressures mediated by local professional conflicts set against a specific political landscape and that this dynamic may continue to influence the development of RJ in this geographical context. It brings about new material for policy comparisons between Scotland and the rest of the UK and Europe, providing a significant case study on the dynamic interplay between cross-national and local, cultural and political factors in influencing policy change
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