Restorative Justice, Responsive Regulation, and Democratic Governance

Abstract

Introduces articles that take as their starting point the book "Restorative Justice and Responsive Regulation," by John Brathwaite, in which he demonstrates the superior effectiveness of restoring victims, offenders, and communities compared with punitive practice of modern judicial systems. These articles consider the relation of restorative justice to responsive regulation and to democratic governance by examining areas where restorative justice and family group or community conferencing have had most influence in social welfare, such as child protection, domestic violence, and youth justice. The aim is to focus the attention of scholars and practitioners working at the interface of sociology and social welfare on the importance for this field of Brathwaite's synthesis of restorative justice and responsive regulation.