Restorative Justice

This book is a welcome contribution to the emergent literature of restorative justice theory and method. It will also be a useful resource for practitioners, professionals involved with conferencing, and tertiary educators and students. … This book, which started out as a group conferencing manual, provides practitioners with a strong conceptual framework within which to situate their practice, without requiring them to wade through mountains of dense theoretical exposition. Barton also offers practitioners a positive alternative framework to what has, to date, been one of the dominant approaches in Australian restorative justice, namely John Braithwaite’s theory of ‘reintegrative shaming’. … Barton offers a different view. He … introduces a ‘paradigm of empowerment’ that has its origins in victim empowerment and victim justice. Central to this perspective is the belief that for restorative justice to be truly successful, all the key stakeholders must be empowered. Empowerment in this context means that ‘all parties must be enabled to negotiate from a position of knowledge, and with confidence that they can deal with this matter and make a positive difference in the outcome’. … In my view [the book’s] focus on empowering participants places a greater priority on the notion of ‘making things right’. Barton’s recognition of the centrality of all stakeholders to the success of restorative justice processes is also important. His theory, as well as his practical concepts for participants, apply not only to facilitators, offenders and victims, but also extend to those who are involved in the role of supporter; professionals (such as police, social workers, and legal advocates); and those whose presence is felt in a more abstract way (such as program managers, referring agents and policy makers). … The theoretical approach here is clearly directed at making aspects of restorative justice theory sensical to practitioners. According to Barton, his aim has been to put theory into accessible language. An inevitable consequence is that some of the academic rigour usually associated with theoretical pursuit is lost to the prioritisation of clarity of communication. This is not a bad thing in light of the work’s key objective of facilitating success for all participants in restorative justice processes through enhancing and improving approaches to best practice. … In pursuing the reality of achieving empowerment in practice, Barton is prepared to be unapologetically focussed on emphasising some of its necessary mundanities - for example the importance of preparing facilitation instruments such as a seating plan and scripted prompts. In fact, 44 of the 179 pages of text are devoted to practical appendices that offer a script for facilitators, a crisis management plan and a number of role-plays. - Rachael Field, QUT Journal of Law and Justice, Vol 4 No 1, 117

Barton is a lecturer in police ethics and justice studies at Charles Sturt University in Australia.

This item is eligible for free returns within 30 days of delivery. See our returns policy for further details.