ABSTRACT
In the Introduction, we described the national case study presented in this volume as a formative effort to: (1) describe ‘what's out there’ in restorative group conferencing in US juvenile justice; and (2) gain a deeper understanding of the rationale and operation of these decision-making options. We noted that our study was not, however, completely inductive since both the practitioners involved in restorative group conferencing and ourselves had, to some degree, been exposed to the core principles introduced in Chapter 1 as the primary standard for gauging the integrity, or ‘restorativeness’ of these practices. These principles, along with related theories-in-use, may be expected to prioritize certain conferencing outcomes. Although we suspected that few programs would represent a pure application of restorative principles, and that some programs might draw upon other theories of intervention related to other justice models (e.g. deterrence, treatment/social welfare), we expected to find some commitment to core restorative principles and related intervention theories.
