Restorative Justice, Juvenile Offenders and Crime Victims: A Review of the Literature (From Restorative Juvenile Justice: Repairing the Harm of Youth Crime, P 305-325, 1999, Gordon Bazemore and Lode Walgrave, eds. -- See NCJ-181924)

• NCJ Number: 181936
• Author(s): Russ Immarigeon
• Date Published: 1999
• Length: 21 pages
• Sale Source: Criminal Justice Press/Willow Tree Press
• Publication Format: Book (Softbound)
• Publication Type: Literature Review
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This literature review focuses on the impact of restorative juvenile justice on the lives and conditions of crime victims, with emphasis on the claims of restorative justice advocates, the impacts of sanctions on victim fears, whether the sanctions repair the harm done, and implications for programs, policy, and research.

Abstract

The literature analyzed included advocacy, evaluation, program, and policy literature. Results revealed that community-based and prison-based victim-offender reconciliation and mediation programs have been in use for approximately 20 years and have been researched in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Family group conferences began in New Zealand, are used extensively there and in Australia, and exist to lesser extents in other countries. Victim impact panels, Navajo peacemaker courts, sentencing circles, expressions of forgiveness, and marae justice in New Zealand are additional forms of restorative justice. Initial research results are encouraging, but further issues need attention. Among issues to be addressed are how to integrate restorative justice options and processes into generally retributive government policies, how to focus more concretely on the role of victims in restorative justice, staff training, and the need for further research. Notes and 60 references