Toward a restorative organization: transforming police bureaucracies

Abstract

As restorative justice has come to the forefront of criminal justice discourse with growing interest and support, a missing link in emerging theory and research has been a focus on the role of criminal justice organizations in the implementation process. This paper considers several bodies of contemporary organizational literature to provide guidance to police agencies seeking to implement reforms consistent with restorative justice principles. Based on a review of this literature and the lessons learned from community policing implementation efforts, an organizational implementation prototype is proposed of the transition from bureaucratic, to post‐bureaucratic, and finally, to restorative organizational models. Implications of this prototype as a strategic guide for implementation of restorative policing that may be used to overcome some of the more practical barriers to this transition are considered.