What restorative justice might learn from administrative theory

Abstract

Two administrative ideal‐types related to competing forms of justice: retributive and restorative include ontological and epistemological foundations and associated organizational theory. The alternate understandings are coherently linked with the principles of justice informing retributive and restorative practices. Retributive justice is linked to formal organization based on instrumental rationality and individualist ontology, while restorative justice is linked to substantive organization based on ethical reasoning and relational ontology. Once constructed, ideal‐types can be used both to assess actual conditions on key characteristics as well as to make recommendations for organizational design. Therefore, conclusions are drawn about the importance of matching context to purpose, pointing toward further empirical research that will inform system design for restorative justice practices.

Keywords:

• restorative justice
• administrative theory
• organizational structure
• ideal‐types

Notes

1. Alberto Guerreiro Ramos was a ‘Nordestino’ (born in the northeastern region) from the Brazilian state of Bahia. He was ‘a self‐described in‐betweener and his work tended to be intellectual bridge‐building. As a poor Afro‐Brazilian educated in the European (especially French) intellectual tradition, he was attracted early on to the empiricism of the Chicago School of American sociology, and subsequently spent the last 15 years of his professional career in the United States, much of which at the University of Southern California. Guerreiro Ramos linked a wide range of both geographical and intellectual worlds that contemporary social science still struggles to integrate’ (Candler & Ventriss, 2006, p. 496). Ramos’ deep philosophical discussions on reason, ethics, freedom and the political pursuit of truth have informed important intellectuals, sociologists, philosophers, public administrators, and educators. An exemplar is Paulo Freire’s (2001) theoretical framework.