Restorative Criminal Justice Programs

An abundance of non-traditional justice programs have been implemented throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, New Zealand, Africa and Australia. Many are considered restorative in nature; however, these programs may not fully conform to restorative principles. The scope of this paper will be on those programs that have adopted the aforementioned principles. That is to say, the empirical results that are discussed in this section are from programs that attempt to restore the relationship between the victim, the community and the offender and attempt to repair the harm caused by crime.

3.1 Research Issues
In the present criminal justice environment of rapid change, research is essential to the success of any new movement or ‘wave’ such as restorative justice (Bonta, Wallace-Capretta & Rooney, 1998; La Prairie, 1999). Unfortunately, empirical scrutiny of the outcomes of such movements are rarely encouraged. What do we actually know about the effectiveness of restorative programming? And how do we define success?
First, since public safety remains the paramount concern of the criminal justice system, programs should attempt to reduce recidivism. If a program were to actually increase the chances of further criminal behaviour, most would agree that this would not be a success. Second, the needs of victims should be adequately addressed. This is easily measured through controlled experiments testing the satisfaction levels of victims in the traditional system compared to a restorative program. Third, the effects of a program on the community should be considered. For example, does the program reduce fear of crime and increase the perception of safety within a