Restorative Justice at a Crossroads

Giuseppe Maglione is Lecturer of Criminology and Director of the Restorative Justice Clinic in the School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research at the University of Kent, UK.Ian D. Marder is Assistant Professor of Criminology in the School of Law and Criminology at Maynooth University, Ireland.Brunilda Pali is Assistant Professor of Conflict Dynamics and Resolution in the Department of Political Sciences at the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

“With appropriate nuance, this book offers critical reflections on global attempts to institutionalise restorative justice. It highlights socio-political challenges to repressive state criminalisation, outlining relations of resistance and cooptation that forge diverse justice arenas today. It will be a key resource for scholars, students, and practitioners of restorative justice.”George Pavlich, Professor of Law and Sociology, University of Alberta, Canada"In an age of punitive populism, this book provides a fresh air of depth and integrity in the scrutiny of restorative justice and the path it has taken, across the globe, from a vision to a widespread justice mechanism. The chapters of the book provide diverse and culturally-sensitive perspectives on the risks, potentials, and transformations related to the institutionalisation of restorative justice in criminal justice systems. The editors address the challenge head forward, with a kind of “tough love” – they scrutinise the ways restorative justice is implemented and institutionalised not for the sake of criticism itself, but from genuine will to make restorative justice better, and, while doing so, to clarify what “better” might mean. The book offers new, often surprising, rich ways of looking at the various perspectives of institutionalisation and the ways forward. As the editors suggest, the book is a call for action – to stay attuned to the developments of restorative justice, and to be critical, independent, and brave in keeping restorative justice alive and at its best."Tali Gal, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law and Institute of Criminology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel"Worldwide, restorative justice is gaining momentum at policy level. Therefore it was an excellent idea of the editors of this book to invite a group of leading scholars from various parts of the world to critically reflect about the concept(s) and role(s) of institutionalisation of restorative justice. Chapters in this highly needed book present a variety of perspectives on the concomitant dilemmas between co-option and autonomy. Many readers will recognise this challenge from their own work, be it in practice or research. The analyses offered by this edited volume will considerably help us to further conceptualise and realise the aspiration of justice in an institutional field of tensions and opportunities."Ivo Aersten, Emeritus Professor, Faculty of Law and Criminology, KU Leuven, Belgium

• 1. Contextualising the dilemmas of institutionalising restorative justice 2. Restorative justice in Australia and New Zealand: A Faustian bargain with the state? 3. Restorative justice for wrongful convictions: A quasi-institutional approach 4. The ‘autonomy’ principle as a normative ‘red line’ between restorative processes and criminal proceedings in France 5. Innovative and transformative effects of restorative justice: Reflections on the recent reform adopted in Italy 6. Restorative justice and domestic violence courts in Brazil: The double challenge of institutionalisation 7. Beyond lawmaking: Restorative approaches in governance 8. Meeting the challenges of scaling up restorative justice in the United States 9. Congruent or contradictory? What isomorphism teaches us about the relationship between restorative justice and the mainstream criminal justice system 10. The ‘deadly embrace’ of restorative justice in Germany 11. Victim offender mediation in the Danish police: The dancing and wrestling of organisation culture and programme purpose 12. Crossroads and dilemmas