Restorative Justice at a Crossroads

“With appropriate nuance, this book offers critical reflections on global attempts to institutionalise restorative justice. It highlights socio-political challenges to repressive state criminalisation, outlining relations of resistance and cooptation that forge diverse justice arenas today. It will be a key resource for scholars, students, and practitioners of restorative justice.”

George Pavlich, Professor of Law and Sociology, University of Alberta, Canada

"In an age of punitive populism, this book provides a fresh air of depth and integrity in the scrutiny of restorative justice and the path it has taken, across the globe, from a vision to a widespread justice mechanism. The chapters of the book provide diverse and culturally-sensitive perspectives on the risks, potentials, and transformations related to the institutionalisation of restorative justice in criminal justice systems. The editors address the challenge head forward, with a kind of “tough love” – they scrutinise the ways restorative justice is implemented and institutionalised not for the sake of criticism itself, but from genuine will to make restorative justice better, and, while doing so, to clarify what “better” might mean. The book offers new, often surprising, rich ways of looking at the various perspectives of institutionalisation and the ways forward. As the editors suggest, the book is a call for action – to stay attuned to the developments of restorative justice, and to be critical, independent, and brave in keeping restorative justice alive and at its best."

Tali Gal, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law and Institute of Criminology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel

"Worldwide, restorative justice is gaining momentum at policy level. Therefore it was an excellent idea of the editors of this book to invite a group of leading scholars from various parts of the world to critically reflect about the concept(s) and role(s) of institutionalisation of restorative justice. Chapters in this highly needed book present a variety of perspectives on the concomitant dilemmas between co-option and autonomy. Many readers will recognise this challenge from their own work, be it in practice or research. The analyses offered by this edited volume will considerably help us to further conceptualise and realise the aspiration of justice in an institutional field of tensions and opportunities."

Ivo Aersten, Emeritus Professor, Faculty of Law and Criminology, KU Leuven, Belgium