ABSTRACT
The campaign for restorative justice emerged in the mid-1970s. By the end of the 1990s, it was becoming familiar to criminal justice reformers and scholars. Today, it is a significant force in the field of criminal justice. To refer to a metaphor that some leaders of the campaign are fond of, ‘the trickle has turned into a river in a remarkably short time’ (Zehr and Toews 2004: vii). However, as well as growing, the campaign for restorative justice has broadened and to some extent shifted its focus. In the process, there has been a subtle change in the way restorative justice itself is understood and represented. This chapter will chart these developments and look at their implications for thinking about the potential impact of the campaign upon our societies.
