ABSTRACT
In this chapter we will be focusing on some of the key aspects of restorative justice as it may be used in cases involving adult offenders. Using restorative justice with adult offenders has tended to be a rarer occurrence than its now mainstream use with young offenders in various countries. Statutory provisions for conferencing or direct mediation for young offenders are now in force in New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Poland, and parts of Australia (Campbell
et al., 2006; Daly, 2001, 2004; Morris & Maxwell, 2001; Wozniakowska, 2005), with the discretionary use of restorative justice and restorative practices being widespread in England and Wales, Canada, and the United States. The scarcity of schemes and evaluations of restorative justice for cases involving adult offenders can be seen from the fact that the recent review of effectiveness by Sherman and Strang (2007) considered 9 schemes for violent crime and 11 schemes for property crime involving young offenders or young adult offenders (from Australia, Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom) but only one scheme for violent crime (from the United States) and one scheme for property crime (from Canada) involving adult offenders.
