Restorative Justice

The restorative justice movement is having an increasing impact upon criminal justice system policymakers and practitioners throughout the world. As a relatively young reform effort, the restorative justice movement and the practice of victim-offender mediation, as its oldest empirically grounded intervention, hold great promise as we enter the twenty-first century. By drawing upon many traditional values of the past, and from many different cultures, we have the opportunity to build a far more accountable, understandable, and healing system of justice that can lead to a greater sense of community through active victim and citizen involvement in restorative initiatives.