ABSTRACT
It cannot be denied that in the last three decades research on restorative justice (RJ) has been prolific. Several studies have been carried out all around the globe in order to demonstrate the benefits of RJ practices. Moreover, RJ scholars have broadly justified the development of RJ based on its victim-oriented philosophy and its evident positive outcomes for victims. In this chapter I describe why RJ, indeed, appears to be an interesting prospect for victims of crime when compared with the criminal justice system or other victim-oriented initiatives (first section) to move later to analyse carefully the evidence that suggests positive outcomes for victims of crime (second section). This chapter also dedicates some paragraphs to discussing some unanswered questions that evidence has not fully addressed yet (third section). Finally, the chapter finishes by drawing some conclusions about what seems to hinder a better understanding of victims in the field of RJ and some possible solutions to address these limitations (fourth section).
