Justice in Transition

"Anyone who worries that restorative justice is at risk of losing its edge and becoming yet another dull, institutionalised penal alternative should read this book immediately. The sophisticated, grassroots restorative justice projects in Northern Ireland have almost single-handedly eradicated paramilitary punishment beatings and may be restorative justices greatest, but moist unsung achievement. Anna Eriksson's in depth analysis of these projects and the controversies surrounding them brings the crucial story to life and should be widely read by scholars, students and policymakers." Professor Shadd Maruna, Queen's University Belfast"

Anna Eriksson is a Lecturer in Criminology at Monash University, Australia. Her research interests include restorative justice, transitional justice, crime prevention in high-crime communities, cultures of violence, social control in post-conflict societies, comparative penology, and scandinavian exceptionalism.

Foreword by Kieran McEvoy Introduction 1. Restorative justice: an introduction 2. Restorative justice in transition and the case for criminology 3. Paramilitaries and vigilantes: punitive populism as social control 4. The beginning of CRJI and Alternatives: legitimizing restorative justice in a punitive community 5. The practice of community restorative justice in Northern Ireland 6. Volunteers and practitioners: leadership in a culture of violence 7. State-community partnerships in transition: a question of trust 8. The road less travelled: policing and partnerships in transition. Conclusion: Rethinking restorative justice. Appendix A: Paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland. Appendix B: Timeline for key events and governement documents relating to community restorative justice in Northern Ireland