Restorative Justice Conferences Research Articles

Offender Journeys in Restorative Youth Justice Conferencing: The Overlap Between Restorative Justice and Desistance

ABSTRACT Although restorative justice (RJ) and desistance are theoretically interlinked, less is empirically known about how and why RJ conferencing may support change toward desistance. Drawing on the South Australian Juvenile Justice dataset, I examined how young offenders’ experiences with RJ conferencing coincide or overlap with desistance trajectories. The findings led to establishing the concept of offender journeys, which identified three distinct desistance trajectories through RJ conferencing: (1) optimal journeys, whereby young offenders had a positive experience with RJ conferencing and completely ceased crime, (2) changing journeys, whereby young offenders had a positive experience with RJ conferencing but faced challenges in maintaining a crime-free lie, and (3) difficult journeys, whereby young offenders escalated their offending after RJ conferencing. This finding suggests that youth desistance trajectories through RJ conferencing are more divergent than discussed in the literature, calling for a multifaceted theoretical explanation rather than a single desistance theory.

Building a Restorative Justice Diversion Program for Youth in Rural Areas

Restorative Justice (RJ) models of diversion from the criminal justice system have been used successfully with adults and youth charged with minor offenses. Professionally mediated RJ conferences bring together the offender and the person(s) harmed to discuss the impact of their actions and develop a plan to restore community safety and make amends. An RJ model aimed at diverting youth from the juvenile justice system for minor offenses has successfully worked in an urban region in Kentucky for over a decade. The same RJ model was piloted in a very rural region of the state. The program goal was to decrease youth involvement in the criminal justice system and create positive change within the communities and families involved in youth-initiated crimes. Interestingly, the rural location of the RJ program has run into unique challenges not experienced in the urban area. This paper examines preliminary outcomes data. Differences in juvenile justice and community involvement approaches that need to be addressed when establishing an RJ program in a geographically rural area are highlighted. Suggestions for how to incorporate RJ diversion programs into rural communities are provided.

The Politics of Shame, Stigma and Gender: Implications for Restorative Justice Conferencing with Justice-Involved Girls

Feminist engagement with restorative justice (RJ) have tended to neglect the importance of gendered factors relevant to RJ interventions used with women and girls who offend. This article begins to address this gap in knowledge and presents findings from qualitative research with offending girls who participated in a RJ conference, a group whose voices are seldom heard, and RJ practitioners. Focusing on the key themes of shame and stigma, the article critically explores how the macro-social processes underpinning stigmatization and the gendered politics of shame can produce harmful implications for girls participating in RJ conferences within an offender capacity.

Can Restorative Justice Provide a Better Outcome for Participants and Society than the Courts?

This article will examine understandings that underpin restorative justice outcomes for participants in order to propose that restorative justice conferences may provide better outcomes for participants than the formal courts of the criminal justice system. The analysis will attempt to shed light on the benefits of the restorative justice conferencing process. These benefits will be shown to include positive individual and community outcomes, which ‘restore’ participants in a manner which may be closer to concepts of ‘justice’ than the formal court process.

Experiencing Shame: How Does Gender Affect the Interpersonal Dynamics of Restorative Justice?

Although reintegrative shaming theory suggests that, in comparison to males, females are more interdependent and thus susceptible to reintegrative rather than disintegrative shaming, it is unclear how gender affects the type of shame experienced when considering interpersonal dynamics within restorative justice conferences. The involvement of the community within these conferences may affect how offenders are viewed, especially when considering the stigma female offenders experience for violating legal and gender norms. Using data from the Reintegrative Shaming Experiments, we find that interdependency conditions how gender affects the experience of shaming based on the type of others with whom offenders are interdependent.

The Potential of Restorative Justice in Promoting Environmental Offenders’ Acceptance of Responsibility

Restorative justice conferencing offers promise in dealing with the harm flowing from environmental crimes. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime outlined four critical ingredients necessary for restorative justice to achieve its objectives. One of these critical ingredients is that the offender accepts responsibility for the offence. In another article, we explored this requirement, outlining how contrition and remorse can be evidence of an acceptance of responsibility. In this article, we go further by questioning whether environmental crime offenders who do not accept responsibility for the offending should necessarily be excluded from participating in restorative justice conferencing. As will be seen, the benefits of conferencing with offenders who seem reluctant to accept responsibility may outweigh its disadvantages. This is particularly because the facilitated dialogue can provide a golden opportunity for the offender to come to realise the harm caused by their offending and its impact on victims.

Adult Restorative Justice and Gendered Violence: Practitioner and Service Provider Viewpoints from Queensland, Australia

This paper presents findings from a study exploring the experiences and viewpoints of conventional criminal justice actors, social and legal service providers, and restorative justice (RJ) conference facilitators/convenors regarding the use of adult RJ conferencing in cases of intimate partner, domestic, family (IPDFV) and sexual violence (SV). Results indicated strong views about what IPDFV/SV victims needed from a system of justice, perceived failings of conventional justice systems in this regard, and the potential of RJ to deliver more efficacious justice. Nevertheless, using RJ in these cases posed concerns and challenges. Research participants identified steps that could be taken to overcome these issues through an RJ best practice framework underpinned by a victim-centred approach committed to victim empowerment, safety, healing, and practitioner training.

Criminal Blame, Exclusion and Moral Dialogue

In her recent book The Limits of Blame, Erin Kelly argues that we should rethink the nature of punishment because delivering blame is, contrary to the widely held view, not among the justifiable aims of a criminal justice system. In this paper, firstly, I discuss her case against criminal blame. Kelly argues that the emphasis on blame in the criminal justice system and in public discourse is one of the main causes of the stigma and exclusion faced by those convicted for a crime. This claim might appear puzzling and, while she provides other convincing arguments against criminal blame, Kelly does not extensively defend this particular argument. To offer support for this view, I reflect on the often overlooked distinction between moral blame and criminal blame to show how the latter, unlike the former, is exclusionary and stigmatising. Secondly, I address the claim put forth by Kelly that blame should play no role in the criminal justice system at all. In light of her argument about the optional nature of moral blame, I explore the possibility that the state should leave open to victims the option to blame criminal wrongdoers in restorative justice conferences. I argue that in such contexts blame would not have the same exclusionary features of criminal blame in traditional settings and that it could serve some valuable aims articulated by communicative theories of punishment, such as the restoration of moral relationships.

From Trauma to Recovery: Restorative Justice Conferencing in Cases of Adult Survivors of Intrafamilial Sexual Offenses

Restorative justice (RJ) is a way of doing justice following an offense that is primarily oriented towards repairing individual, relational, and social harm. This study examined how RJ processes, conducted following intrafamilial sexual abuse, helped restore the family relationship, and assessed their contribution to the healing and recovery of the victims and the family system. Twenty-three adults who have chosen to take part in RJ processes were interviewed for this study, including incest survivors, non-offending family members, friends, and RJ facilitators. We used a thematic approach within an experiential framework to analyze the qualitative data. Analysis of the interviews highlights the unique role played by the family affected by incest in the journey of recovery undertaken by the survivor and other family members. Together, the participants’ voices join into a multifaceted portrait of a highly complex process that enables survivors and their family to make themselves heard, become empowered, and grow towards recovery and restoration. The present study adds to recent studies on RJ in cases of sexual offense, and in the particular intrafamilial context. It enriches the literature with descriptions of the participants’ experiences, shedding light on the unique characteristics of RJ processes in incest cases. The study also refines the contribution of the RJ process as an alternative for or as complementary to legal or therapeutic processes, as well as in highlighting the importance of restoring the family system and the suitability of the process for incest cases.

How does sanctioning context affect moral emotions and conformity? An examination of criminal identity negotiation in courts and restorative justice conferences

ABSTRACT Recent research has shown how identities are affected by, and resistant to, reflected appraisals, or how individuals perceive others view them. Despite renewed interest in criminal identity negotiation, the implications that the sanctioning context has for affecting the identity verification process of offenders has been underresearched. Using a sample of 498 restorative justice and 475 court participants in the Australian Reintegrative Shaming Experiments (RISE), we discover that the effect of discrepancies between reflected appraisals and offender self-views on emotions and projected conformity vary by conference and court processing. These findings suggest that identity processes need to be considered when examining how offenders are sanctioned.

Fidelity in Implementing School-Based Restorative Justice Conferences

Many schools are attempting to reduce their reliance on suspension and exclusionary discipline to manage student behavior. One promising alternative involves restorative justice (RJ). However, many programs and interventions are being described as “restorative,” without clarity regarding key components of a RJ approach, and few studies have measured program fidelity. This paper presents a measure of fidelity in implementing RJ conferences, which was used to rate RJ 105 conferences conducted in response to truancy, chronic disruption, and incidents with and without victims. These were implemented in the context of a larger effort that also included a whole-school intervention. Conferences showed very high fidelity in the behavior of conference facilitators, high fidelity in the interaction among conference participants, in contributions of participants to the action plan, and in consensus about the action plan. Student behavior was more varied, as was the extent to which the group offered forgiveness. Emphasizing consequences was associated both with more student remorse and with more student disengagement during conferences, both of which were associated with forgiving the student, but in opposite directions. This highlights a tension in RJ between holding misbehavior accountable while also showing students respect and helping them to repair harms they have caused.

The #MeToo movement and restorative justice: exploring the views of the public

ABSTRACT The study examined ‘the day after’ the #MeToo protest, and proposes channeling the outcry of millions of women toward developing and establishing alternative mechanisms for dealing with sexual offences, focusing on restorative justice conferencing. A mixed-methods design (quantitative and qualitative) was employed to empirically examine the public’s attitude toward the #MeToo movement and restorative-justice in sexual offence cases. The findings (n = 252) revealed that the majority of the public supports the #MeToo movement, but not publications that name alleged offenders. Higher levels of support were found among women and people who define themselves as sexual offence victims. A positive correlation was found between support for the #MeToo movement and support for restorative-justice in sexual offence cases. To better understand the quantitative findings, in-depth interviews were conducted with 30 participants. Analysis of the interviews showed that the public acknowledges the importance of the movement, especially due to the widespread discussion on sexual offences and their implications, giving voice to victims, and the possibility that this will help their coping and healing process. Similarly, proponents of restorative justice view the process as an opportunity to conduct a meaningful dialogue, allowing victims to sound their voice and act in a way that suits them.

Discerning justice: clarifying the role of procedural and interactional justice in restorative conferencing

ABSTRACT Research suggests that offenders perceive restorative justice (RJ) conferences as more just and reintegrative than standard court proceedings. Yet, little research focuses on how the nature of the offense may affect these social psychological processes, and studies that investigate how offenders perceive justice typically examine justice in general, not specific types (procedural vs. interactional). Using data from the Australian Reintegrative Shaming Experiments (RISE), we find that offense type is differentially associated with types of justice and shaming perceptions, demonstrating the need to distinguish between interactional and procedural justice to understand how various offenders experience the RJ conference.

Training partner selection and quality assurance in restorative justice for the criminal justice setting

ABSTRACT Restorative justice (RJ) conferences may be used as an alternative to or in conjunction with conventional criminal justice system responses. They may yield benefits for victims, offenders, and effected communities. RJ conferences also have the potential to be counterproductive if facilitators are not properly trained or if they fail to properly implement models of practice. This paper reports on the results of a multiple-case study of RJ practitioner trainings and advances recommendations for training partner selection and quality assurance processes in the criminal justice context. The paper concludes with suggestions for future research.

The Good, The Bad, and The Street: Does ‘street culture’ affect offender communication and reception in restorative justice?

This article examines whether and how ‘street culture’ affects offender communication and reception in restorative justice. Drawing on an archival dataset of police-led restorative justice conferences, we analysed the relationship between street cultural capital and offenders’ ability to communicate during restorative justice. We explored how offenders’ social background, measured by street cultural capital, and/or communication abilities affect third-party perceptions of offender sincerity and their likelihood to reoffend. Results indicate that the embodiment of street cultural capital may affect offender participation in restorative justice. Socioeconomically disadvantaged offenders appeared more likely to experience communication difficulties, and were less likely to be perceived by third parties as sincere or willing to desist from offending. These findings are considered within a theoretical framework that draws on Bourdieu’s concept of cultural capital, Skeggs’ notion of inscription and Loftus’ research on ‘attitude tests’.

Contested Emotions: Adversarial Rituals in Non-Adversarial Justice Procedures

Non-adversarial justice theories and practices have developed in response to perceived failures of traditional western-style justice processes. However, we argue that while the operations of contemporary court processes might justly be criticised, the philosophical foundations of the common law can provide a framework for understanding nonadversarial justice procedures. Several key features of the adversarial system - lay participation in decision-making, confrontation and representation- are also at the core of many non-adversarial justice processes. This paper explores the ways that non-adversarial approaches, such as restorative justice conferences, indigenous courts and mental health tribunals, embody features of adversarialism in imaginative ways to create effective contemporary justice rituals.

Restorative Justice: An Observational Outcome Evaluation of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Program

The Australian National University and Australian Institute of Criminology were commissioned by the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Justice and Community Safety Directorate to undertake an impact evaluation of the restorative justice conferencing program. There were two components to this evaluation. The first involved the analysis of surveys of offenders, victims and their support persons conducted by the Restorative Justice (RJ) Unit following each conference. The second involved using criminal history data provided by ACT Policing to conduct an analysis of reoffending among the 1,143 participants in restorative justice conferencing (RJC) compared with 4,668 young offenders dealt with at the same time through the normal process, whose criminal history had been tracked until September 2016. Analysis of the surveys completed by conference participants show that the majority of victims, victim support persons, offenders and offender support persons were satisfied with the conference process and outcome of the conference. Overall, 93% of all conference participants (victims, offenders, and supporters) reported being pleased with the outcome of their conference, and between 97 and 99% of all participants and felt treated with respect, able to say what they wanted as part of the process, that the process was fair for them and the offender, and that their rights had been respected. To measure the impact RJC on reoffending, various statistical methods were used to estimate recidivism. These methods compared the proportion of RJC participants who re-offended with a comparison group of young offenders who had not been referred to the program. Apart from estimating the proportion of offenders who re-offended (defined here as re-arrest), and the time taken to reoffend, the frequency of reoffending (i.e. the number of charges or offences) was also measured. The RJC participants were more likely to be male, younger, charged with a violent or property offence, and with a more extensive criminal history than non-participants—factors known to increase the risk of reoffending. The raw percent re-arrested by the cut-off date (September 2016) was 55.9% of the RJC participants and 45.4% of the non-RJC group. After adjusting for differences in follow up time (i.e. a maximum follow up of 12 years and a median follow-up of approximately 7 years) an estimated 61% of RJC participants and 49% of non-participants would be expected to be re-apprehended for at least one offence. However, RJC participants are less likely to reoffend or to reoffend as often as non-participants when differences between them were controlled in either a conventional multivariate model or a matched case analysis. Both approaches produced similar results overall. The multivariate method estimated a 23% reduction and the matched case method a 30% reduction in the frequency of re-offending. The multivariate regression showed RJC participants were significantly less likely to reoffend after the reference episode, although the positive impact of the RJC process appears to decay over time. An intervention effect is also evident when matched groups of juvenile offenders are compared—RJC participants take significantly longer to reoffend and accumulate fewer offences. The proportion estimated to reoffend after 12 months was 20% for RJC participants and 29% for the matched comparison group, after five years about 47% of both RJ and non-RJ had re-offended, but after ten years, 54% of RJC participants compared to 64% of non-participants would be expected to be re-apprehended for at least one offence. The frequency of offending in the follow-up period was also more pronounced at 30% lower for offenders who participated in a RJC compared with a matched group of offenders dealt with by a court or by police using another disposition. The positive RJC intervention effect is further confirmed in a factorial analysis of the risks of recidivism, with lower risks of recidivism identified for specific sub-groups of offenders engaged in the RJC process: for example, property offenders with a prior record had significantly lower recidivism and took longer to re-offend after participation in RJC than those that did not. First time violent offenders also had significantly lower recidivism risks post RJC than those who did not. This observational study of the effects of RJC has limitations because the comparison group was not randomly assigned but matched post hoc using statistical methods or controls. Thus, some selection factors may be overlooked or unaccounted for. However, after applying a variety of analytical methods to describe this large sample of juvenile offenders we conclude that the RJC program has a positive impact on reoffending. It was not possible to draw any conclusions as to whether victims who participate in RJC are more satisfied than those whose matter is dealt with by a court or another disposition, there are very few participants who are dissatisfied with the process and outcome. The victim-centric program delivered by the Restorative Justice Unit is thus successful in delivering a generally positive experience for victims, and other conference participants.

Restorative Justice, Consistency and Proportionality: Examining the Trade-off

Restorative justice conferences that operate as sentencing mechanisms involve the making of a trade-off between empowering lay participants to make their own decisions, and the requirements of consistency and proportionality, which are established principles of sentencing. In current restorative justice practice, this trade-off tends to be made more in favour of consistency and proportionality, at the expense of the empowerment of lay participants.Empowerment is central to key benefits of restorative justice, such as reducing recidivism and increasing victim satisfaction. However, its importance to the effectiveness of restorative justice is not always properly acknowledged. In addition to this lack of acknowledgment, there are both conceptual and practical problems with the principles of consistency and proportionality (particularly in the way that they are presented when considered in relation to restorative justice) that are often overlooked. As a result, the tendency is for assumptions to be made about the necessary supremacy of these principles over empowerment. This paper urges more acknowledgement of the importance of empowerment in restorative justice, together with a greater appreciation of the problems with consistency and proportionality, with a view to challenging assumptions about the way that the trade-off must be made.

Face-to-Face Restorative Justice Conferences for Intimate Partner Abuse: an Exploratory Study of Victim and Offender Views

Research QuestionIn what proportion of intimate partner abuse cases (in which offenders have made some level of formal admission of wrongdoing) would victims, offenders or both be willing to attend a face-to-face restorative justice conference, at least in principle?DataThe study included offenders, victims and dyads in 75 low-harm cases of intimate partner abuse (IPA), defined as punishable by 10 or fewer days of Cambridge Crime Harm Index value for the offence. Eligible cases were limited to couples involving a male offender who had admitted responsibility for the harm and a female victim, both age 18 years or over, in cases finalised within 6 months of the incident and with no new incidents since the presenting offence. Of the 75 eligible cases of IPA for which contact was attempted with 150 people, 54 people agreed to grant interviews: 34 victims (45% of those successfully contacted) and 20 offenders (49% of successful contacts) completed interviews, including 13 cases in which both offender and victim in the dyad gave interviews.MethodStructured phone interviews were conducted by police officers or staff within 10 months of case reporting. The key feasibility measure was a statement that the interviewee would be ‘likely’ to agree to participate in a face-to-face restorative justice conference (RJC) for crimes in an IPA relationship, based on a 5-point Likert scale.FindingsThere were 14 (41%) victims and five (25%) offenders who indicated they would likely or definitely be willing to participate in a RJC if one were offered to them now. Seven of the 13 dyads matched on some degree of willingness to participate between both parties. Victims and offenders with some reason for ongoing contact with the other party tended to be more interested in RJCs than those who had severed contact. Victims reporting lower current levels of fear of the offender and who self-reported fewer prior offences were more willing to participate in RJCs. Cases in which victims indicated willingness had more often resulted in a caution than a charge.ConclusionsThese findings demonstrated an appreciable level of interest in RJCs amongst victims and offenders in IPA cases with low harm. Based on the results of this study, a controlled trial could be considered offering this intervention to couples fitting the eligibility criteria of this study, with emphasis on couples found most likely to accept the offer.

‘Let’s talk about it’: Why social class matters to restorative justice

Communication is universal to human beings, regardless of gender, ethnicity, class, sexuality, disability and so forth. But though communication is a shared capacity, individuals and groups communicate in diverse ways. This study investigates how specifically social class influences participation in scripted restorative justice by affecting how participants communicate. Data from an ethnographic study indicate that restorative justice implementation is not class-neutral because it appears to privilege middle-class forms of communication, and participants from middle-class backgrounds may therefore be more powerfully positioned in restorative justice processes than participants from less advantaged backgrounds. To show this, a comparative methodology is adopted, which involves ethnographic observation and critical discussion of two contrasting restorative justice conferences. The implications of class-based linguistic disadvantage for restorative justice theory are subsequently discussed. The author recommends that restorative justice commits itself to an equality of opportunity which allows stakeholders to participate fully irrespective of their class background.