Critical deficiencies in restorative conference facilitator trainings: a multiple-case study

ABSTRACT

Restorative justice in the juvenile and criminal justice contexts can produce positive outcomes for victims, offenders, and communities. Research demonstrates that restorative justice can produce negative outcomes for participants under certain circumstances, including poor conference facilitator performance. Facilitator performance is at least partially attributable to their training, but there is scant research on conference facilitator training. This multiple-case study explores the delivery modality, methods of instruction, and training content of 11 trainings delivered over a four-year period. This article concludes with recommendations for training modifications and future research to enhance the positive outcomes of restorative justice for all participants.

KEYWORDS:

• Restorative justice
• restorative conference facilitator training
• multiple-case study
• race
• trauma

Acknowledgement

Earlier versions of this paper were presented at the annual meeting of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences in Las Vegas, Nevada in March 2022 and the virtual meeting of the Justice Studies Association in June 2022.

Disclosure statement

The author does not have any conflicts of interest to report.

Notes

1. For the purpose of the paper, the term RJ conference is used to refer to all types of conferences involving victims and offenders, including restorative conferences, victim-offender mediation, victim-offender reconciliation programs, and family group conferences.

2. Typically, case studies, including multiple-case studies, include detailed case descriptions (i.e. thick descriptions). However, the size of this multiple-case study (i.e. 11 cases) and manuscript page limitations preclude the inclusion of detailed case descriptions in this manuscript. Instead, the data on the phenomena of interest are reported in tables and discussed in the text.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jennifer L. Lanterman

Jennifer L. Lanterman is an Associate Professor of Criminal Justice and Director of the School of Social Research and Justice Studies at the University of Nevada, Reno. Her research focuses on restorative justice training and quality assurance processes and the institutional and community-based management and treatment of high-risk and high-need offenders. Her recent work appears in British Journal of Community Justice, Corrections: Policy, Practice and Research, Criminal Justice and Behavior, Criminal Justice Studies, Criminology & Public Policy, Culture and Organization, Ethics & Behavior, Feminist Criminology, Journal of Ethnicity in Criminal Justice, Journal of Qualitative Criminal Justice and Criminology, International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice, Psychiatry, Psychology and Law, and The Prison Journal.