Rethinking the restorative dimension of criminal justice
| Published date | 01 March 2022 |
| Author | Amanda Wilson,Henrique Carvalho |
| Date | 01 March 2022 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/hojo.12464 |
Received: 12 January 2022 Accepted: 18 January 2022
DOI: 10.1111/ho jo.12464
INTRODUCTION
Rethinking the restorative dimension of
criminal justice
Amanda Wilson1Henrique Carvalho2
1Amanda Wilson is a Leverhulme Trust Fellow,School of Law, University of Warwick
2Henrique Carvalho is Associate Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Criminal Justice Centre, School of Law,
University of Warwick
Correspondence
AmandaWilson, Leverhulme Trust Fellow, School of Law,University of Warwick.
Email:amanda.wilson@warwick.ac.uk
Criminal justice has long been in crisis across the Western world. The increases in prison num-
bers, the overcrowding and violence in carceral spaces, the recidivism and the many inequalities
that underpin and result from criminal justice practices are but the outer symptoms of a system
desperately in need of change – or challenge. In their various forms, restorative approaches have
sought to question the punitive logics that predominate in conventional ways of thinking about,
and doing, justice. Despite the sometimes extensive application of these approaches, a wealth of
empirical support for their utilisation, and an intuitive sense of its promise, restorative justice has
nonetheless failed to realise its potential as a fully-fledged alternative to punishment and remains
a relatively discrete and, to a large extent, limited field. The purpose of this special issue is tofoster
debates through which we may seek to understand, explain and address this impasse.
The idea for this special issue arose out of a seminar on ‘The Problem of Justice: The Restora-
tive Dimension’, hosted at the University of Warwick in October 2019. Although more narrowly
focused on issues around restorative justice, the discussions that ensued in, and from, the seminar
raised broader questions about the concept of restoration, its promises, its problems, and the role
and value it has regarding contemporary pursuits of justice – particularly in relation to criminal
justice. On that basis, we invited other contributors to join those who participated in the original
seminar in a special issue aimed at exploring three key issues that we believe are critical to the
advancement of theory and practice in this domain:
1. The synergistic relation between restoration and criminal justice, the tensions inherent to this
relation and how (or whether) they might be overcome.
2. The promising core of restoration and its challenge to punitive justice.
3. Intersectional and alternative perspectives on restoration and its limits.
© 2022 The Howard League and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Howard J. Crim. Justice. 2022;61:3–8. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/hojo 3
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