ABSTRACT

Restorative justice is ‘a process whereby parties with a stake in a specific offence collectively resolve how to deal with the aftermath of the offence and its implications for the future’. For restorative theorists, the process is as important as the product: restoration is achieved as much by the process of discussion and negotiation between victim, offender and others as by whatever reparative measures flow from that process. Advocates of each species of justice often hold conceptions of ‘restoration’, retribution’ and ‘punishment’ given which the pursuit of one does preclude the pursuit of the other. Though philosophers are as fond as other academics of confrontation, they sometimes pursue a strategy of reconciliation, which seeks to resolve a controversy by dissolving the problem about which it rages. The chapter aims to seek such reconciliation in relation to the controversy over ‘restorative’ and ‘retributive’ justice.