ABSTRACT
Restorative justice has come out of the shadows. The interest in its practices is expected to grow alongside a stronger victims’ movement internationally. In the UK, legislation now allows restorative justice at all stages of the criminal justice system, and as part of these developments, there is a need for an up-to-date, evidence-based picture on victims and offenders’ perceptions and experiences of restorative justice. This chapter aims to contribute to the Handbook’s ambition of presenting new evidence on the progress of restorative justice by reporting on the findings of a research project that was conducted in 2017 in London, UK. The findings are drawn from an online quantitative survey with 66 victims and 44 offenders, followed by 11 qualitative, in-depth victim interviews and a focus group with seven victims and practitioners. The data point out a number of assumptions and caveats that persist within the restorative justice movement, and which must be addressed in order to ensure that further investment in restorative justice will yield benefits to all those whose lives are blighted by crime. The experiences and perceptions of London victims and offenders are used as platform for wider learning for the international reader of this Handbook.
