‘Transforming justice’: challenges for restorative justice in an era of punishment-based corrections

Abstract

Scholars of restorative justice have long debated its theoretical relationship with formal criminal justice. This analysis critically examines the range of socio-structural conditions in contemporary society that have halted the spread of restorative policies in practice and prevented them from realizing their transformative potential as an alternative system of justice. These factors are attributed largely to a punitive penal culture that is characterized by policy-making based on penal populism, the governance of risk and a managerialist criminal justice agenda; and the widespread co-optation of restorative programs by the state. This broad argument is explored in the context of two particular case studies – recent developments in youth justice and in sexual offending respectively in England and Wales and elsewhere. This examination ultimately highlights challenges for restorative justice in the current risk-driven penal climate and advocates a need to re-evaluate its relationship with formal state justice.

Keywords:

• restorative justice
• retribution
• transformative potential
• punitive penal culture
• co-optation by the state
• risk

Notes

1. The terms youth justice and juvenile justice are used interchangeably here as they are in the literature.

2. At the Federal level, registration and notification are now governed by the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act 2006.

3. King and Maruna’s (2009) multi-variate analysis of survey responses establishes that concerns about the economy as well as the state of ‘the youth today’ account for a sizeable proportion of the effect of worries about crime on punitivity.

4. See, e.g. ‘How Could This Happen Here?,’ BBC News On-line, 7 April 2009; ‘Left to Spiral Out of Control?,’ BBC News On-line, 3 September 2009.

5. Paternoster et al. (1997) identify several elements that provide legitimacy. These include: representation, in the sense of playing a part in decision-making; consistency; impartiality; accuracy; the competency of the legal authority; correctability, as the scope for appeal; and ethicality, treating people with dignity and respect.