Restorative justice: deliberative democracy in action?

Abstract

This paper examines the emergence of restorative justice meetings—in which victims come face to face with offenders—and asks whether they provide an example of deliberative democracy in action. The article analyses some restorative justice initiatives from the United States and Australasia and finds that they exhibit inclusiveness, and create more scope for democratic control, but are less strong on the equality criterion. Accountability has also been identified as a weakness of restorative meetings but, drawing on deliberative democratic theory, the authors suggest a possible solution. In their ability to transform preferences of both victims and offenders, restorative meetings offer both a vivid example to deliberative democrats and a powerful challenge to justice systems that rely heavily on incarceration.

Notes

John Parkinson is Lecturer in Politics at the University of York, teaching public policy and democracy. Declan Roche is Lecturer in Law at the London School of Economics and Political Science, teaching criminal law and criminology. Both gained their PhDs at the Australian National University's Research School of Social Sciences, John in Social and Political Theory, Declan in Law. They thank John Braithwaite, John Dryzek and this journal's anonymous referees.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

John Parkinson

John Parkinson is Lecturer in Politics at the University of York, teaching public policy and democracy. Declan Roche is Lecturer in Law at the London School of Economics and Political Science, teaching criminal law and criminology. Both gained their PhDs at the Australian National University's Research School of Social Sciences, John in Social and Political Theory, Declan in Law. They thank John Braithwaite, John Dryzek and this journal's anonymous referees.