Handbook on Restorative justice programmes

HANDBOOK ON RESTORATIVE JUSTICE PROGRAMMES

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4.
Can there be restorative justice in an unjust world? Some people are
long-term victims of systemic injustice; is it fair to hold them account-
able for individual acts of injustice they may themselves commit without
taking substantial steps to address the underlying injustice? Those who
work within the transformative conception would say that it is not, and
that systemic injustices must be confronted as well as the individual
injustices. Those who work within the other two conceptions, although
concerned about systemic injustice, would not conclude that restorative
justice compels this.
A final caution about restorative justice literature and terminology is that in the
same way that the term restorative justice has somewhat different meanings, so
too do names of programmes, such as victim offender mediation, conferencing
and circles. For example, the name victim offender mediation is used to describe
meetings between the victim and offender with a facilitator’s assistance, but it is
also used to describe a kind of “shuttle diplomacy” in which the parties do not
meet and the facilitator goes back and forth to negotiate an agreement. The rea-
sons for these differences often have to do with the programme history of the partic-
ular programme, but however they have came about, it is always a good idea to ask a
few questions about a programme to find out more specifically how it really works.
A great deal has been written and said about these controversies and others, and
the time may come when it is useful or important to understand them more fully.
In that instance, the resources in annex I will be an excellent place to begin.
Annex III