Book Review: Why Restorative Justice? Repairing the Harm Done by Crime
| Author | Sandra Walklate |
| DOI | 10.1177/026975800100800312 |
| Published date | 01 September 2001 |
| Date | 01 September 2001 |
312
a secular
society.
For
all
those concerned
with
promoting
constructive develop-
ments
in
criminal justice,
spending
a
few
hours
in
the
company
of Martin Wright
and
his
wise,
imaginary friends
is
a
most
agreeable
way
to
prepare
for
the
mental
fight.
Mike
Nellis
University
of Birmingham,
UK
WHY
RESTORATIVE
JUSTICE?
REPAIRING
THE
HARM
DONE
BY
CRIME.
Roger Graef, Calhouste
Gulbenkian
Foundation;
London.
2000.
ISBN
0903319926.
pp.
72.
No
price
given.
Given
the
current policy
focus
on
the
whole
question of restorative justice, I
approached reading
this
handy
booklet
with
some
interest,
written
as
it
is
by
a
journalist
with
a considerable
reputation
of adopting a critical stance towards
practices
within
the criminal justice
system.
The
book
is
dedicated
to
Martin
Wright
which
in
itself
makes
a clear statement of intent
for
anyone
familiar
with
the
debates surrounding
the
relationship of
the
victim
of
crime
to
the
criminal
justice process over the last
twenty
years
or
so.
This
booklet
does
not pretend.
It
constitutes a clearly committed
and
largely
uncritical statement of support
for
restorative justice. In
so
doing
it
has
some
valuable
and
interesting
features.
But
first,
how
is
this
support
for
restorative justice
made?
The
booklet itself comprises
ten
short
chapters,
each
with
a clear
purpose.
The
need
to
change
the
criminal justice
system
to
take
the
victim
more
effective)
y
into
account
is
established early
on
in
the
text,
with
the
value
of
making
amends,
mediation
and
restoration
for
the
victim,
the
offender
and
the
community
well
stated.
The
author
then
proceeds
to
consider
the
current
range
of choices
avail-
able
in
the
criminal justice system
and
offers
a brief
overview
of
the
new
legislation employing
these
ideas.
He
then
argues
for
a
future
in
which
the
concepts of restoration enter
more
effectively
into
a
whole
range
of contexts
in
which
the resolution of conflicts
might
be
better
aided
by
applying
its
principles.
It
has
to
be
said
that
this
is
not
an
academic
text.
Neither
does
it
constitute a
text
in
which
the
pros
and
cons
of
the
principles
of restorative justice are
discussed
in
any
great
detail.
It
is
a
book
for
the
most
part
entirely about
the
pros.
In
the light of
this,
anyone
who
is
familiar
with
the
detail
of
the
empirical findings
around these ideas
will
certainly
be
irritated
by
it.
Moreover,
anyone
familiar
with
the
debates surrounding
the
possibilities of
change
within
an
adversarial
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