Restorative Justice

by

Katherine van Wormer

Introduction

“Restorative justice,” as defined in the Encyclopedia of Social Work, is “a nonadversarial approach usually monitored by a trained professional who seeks to offer justice to the individual victim, the offender, and the community, all of whom have been harmed by a crime or other form of wrongdoing” (van Wormer 2008, vol. 3, 531, see Introductory Works). This emerging model in criminal justice focuses on repairing the harm done by an offense by involving the victim, the offender, and the community. This entry identifies resources on restorative justice theories and strategies with relevance to social work practice. At the micro level, restorative justice is played out as conferencing between victims and offenders, for example, by way of family group conferences and healing circles. At the macro or societal level, restorative justice takes the form of reparations or truth commissions to compensate for the harm that has been done. The magnitude of the situations covered ranges from interpersonal violence to school bullying to mass kidnappings to full-scale terrorism and warfare. Since in the United States restorative justice has only recently been given formal recognition by the profession of social work, included for the first time the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Encyclopedia of Social Work in 2008, books and articles that specifically relate restorative justice to social work are scarce, and most are of recent vintage. Accordingly many of the listings in this entry are drawn from criminal justice, legal, and international sources, especially from Canada, New Zealand, and Australia.

Introductory Works

The contributions chosen for this section provide concise overviews of the various models of restorative justice. One of the most useful in the literature is the first offering, Bazemore and Umbreit 2001. An easy-to-use diagram is contained in this publication. Breton and Lehman 2001, in contrast, provides a more philosophical account. van Wormer 2004 shows how restorative principles can help overcome aspects of oppression in the early twenty-first-century world. Cloran, et al. 2007 is an interactive Canadian movie that can be used as a tool to teach restorative processes. Fred 2005 interviews several practitioners and researchers and provides a brief history of restorative justice in the United States. The focus of Karp and Clear 2002 is on working with persons on probation and integrating them into the community.

• Bazemore, Gordon, and Mark Umbreit. 2001. A comparison of four restorative conferencing models. Juvenile Justice Bulletin February, 1–20. US Department of Justice.

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  A basic guide to the four models of restorative conferencing: victim-offender conferencing, community reparation boards, family group conferencing, and circle sentencing. The description of each model includes background, information, key concepts, procedures and goals, considerations in implementation, lessons learned from research, and sources of additional information.

• Breton, Denise, and Stephen Lehman. 2001. The mystic heart of justice: Restoring wholeness in a broken world. West Chester, PA: Chrysalis Books.

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  This beautifully written book provides an overview of justice and offers a healing vision for restoring a balance to the individual and society. Restorative principles are infused throughout the discussion. This book would be an excellent choice for a book club or religious discussion group willing to delve into issues of justice, forgiveness, and reconciliation.

• Cloran, Daryl, Anita Doran, and Mateo Guez, writers and directors. 2007. Late fragment. DVD. Toronto: Canadian Film Centre/National Film Board of Canada.

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  Three strangers—Faye, Kevin, and Théo—are drawn together as participants in a restorative justice process, where victims and offenders share their stories. Emotionally broken from the violence they have experienced, they turn to the restorative justice process in hopes of finding wholeness, balance, forgiveness, redemption, and a sense of safety. DVD available from Late Fragment

• Fred, Sheryl. 2005. Restorative justice: A model of healing; philosophy consistent with social work values. National Association of Social Workers (NASW) News, February, 4.

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  This brief newsletter article produced by the National Association of Social Workers provides one of the best introductions to the principles and practices of restorative justice from a social work perspective.

• Gavrielides, Theo. 2008. Restorative justice: The perplexing concept. Criminology and Criminal Justice 8 (2): 165–183.

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  Although this article is theoretically complex, the author, who is a restorative justice expert and human rights adviser in the United Kingdom, correctly points to different conceptualizations within the restorative justice movement. For example, some see this movement as an alternative to criminal justice processes, whereas others see these concepts as operating within the system and have a more pragmatic understanding of this form of justice.

• Karp, David Reed, and Todd R. Clear, eds. 2002. What is community justice? Case studies of restorative justice and community supervision. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

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  Six case studies of working probation programs are provided. These programs stress reparations to victims of crime by offenders who are held accountable. Restorative justice is contrasted with retributive justice.

• Oliver, Charles, writer and director. 2008. Take. DVD. Los Angeles: Liberation Entertainment.

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  This fictional movie examines issues surrounding the death penalty, gun laws, forgiveness, restorative justice, and politics. Minnie Driver plays Ana, a single mother whose life violently intersected with Saul’s (played by Jeremy Renner) many years earlier. Trailer and more information at takethemovie.com

• van Wormer, Katherine. 2004. Confronting oppression, restoring justice: From policy analysis to social action. Alexandria, VA: Council on Social Work Education.

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  Written for social workers, this short volume is divided into two parts. The first half of the book concerns the nature of oppression, psychologically and socially. Numerous consciousness-raising experiences are provided. The second half of the book is concerned with injustice and how it can be challenged through human rights and restorative justice initiatives.

• van Wormer, Katherine. 2008. Restorative justice. In Encyclopedia of social work. 20th ed. Edited by Terry Mizrahi and Larry E. Davis, 531–533. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.

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  Provides a definition, and sections on relevance to ethnic groups, and roles for social workers.