Handbook on Restorative justice programmes

7.3 Measuring the impact of programmes
on recidivism
A key feature of most restorative justice approaches is their intent to con-
sider the crime or conflict within a holistic framework and to identify and
address the underlying causes of the event. Constructing an evaluation
framework that measures the extent to which any one restorative interven-
tion is effective in addressing underlying problems is quite difficult and
requires extensive follow-up work. This type of impact is less amenable to
statistical analyses and requires a research design centred on information
gathering from the parties involved in the restorative intervention. 
Despite the clear evidence that there is on various aspects of the positive
impact of restorative justice programmes, researchers, practitioners and
policy makers still want to know whether restorative justice interventions
can reduce crime and, if so, how and when. The picture that emerges
from the growing empirical research literature on restorative justice and
reoffending is still not totally clear. 
Advocates may point to satisfied and fairly treated victims and offenders
to demonstrate that restorative justice works. But how a criminal justice
initiative impacts future offending continues to be at the heart of discus-
sions on programme success. There is remarkable variation in how reof-
fending is conceptualized and measured in different studies. These
variations likely contribute to the variable outcomes observed.
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