ABSTRACT
Restorative justice events cannot provide victims with all the support and action they would wish to see following victimisation: many of those tasks must fall to victim support and assistance organisations, and to criminal justice practitioners and the criminal justice system. Restorative justice theorists, however, have argued that restorative justice can add to the possibilities of victims being able to communicate effectively with the offender if they wish to do so; to a more victim-oriented criminal justice response; and to recovery from the effects of victimisation. Some of these possibilities stem from the inadequacies of criminal justice in relation to victims: that criminal justice agencies do not meet the proper expectations of victims for information about their case, support and having their needs taken into consideration in sentencing, etc. (JUSTICE 1998). Others, such as possibilities for reparation and for a reduction in fear or feelings of revenge, have been more intrinsically linked with restorative justice (Zehr 1990; Strang 2002).
