ABSTRACT
The term "restorative justice" has come to mean many different things to different people. So much so that we fear it is beginning to cease to have any clear reference. It is apparently being used to refer to an extraordinarily wide and diverse range of formal and informal interventions, including: ( 1) victim/offender conferences in criminal justice contexts; (2) discretionary problem solving policing initiatives in disputes between citizens; (3) conflict resolution workshops in organisational contexts; ( 4) team building sessions in occupational settings; (5) marital advice and counselling sessions; (6) parental guidance and admonishment of their misbehaving children; (7) apologising for offensive or otherwise hurtful remarks in institutional and other settings.
