Abstract:
The restorative justice movement is having an increasing impact upon
criminal justice system policymakers and practitioners throughout the
world. As a relatively young reform effort, the restorative justice movement
and the practice of victim-offender mediation, as its oldest empirically
grounded intervention, hold great promise as we enter the twenty-first
century. By drawing upon many traditional values of the past, and from
many different cultures, we have the opportunity to build a far more
accountable, understandable, and healing system of justice that can lead
to a greater sense of community through active victim and citizen
involvement in restorative initiatives