Imagining Success for a Restorative Approach to Justice: Implications for Measurement and Evaluation

Authors

Jennifer J. Llewellyn, Dalhousie UniversityFollow
Bruce P. Archibald, Dalhousie UniversityFollow
Don Clairmont, Dalhousie UniversityFollow
Diane Crocker, Saint Mary's UniversityFollow

Keywords

restorative justice, successful, criminal justice, criminal law, failures, research

Abstract

Whether restorative justiceis "successful," or not, is a complex question. Attempts to answer this question by practitioners, professionals, and scholars have often been bounded by common notions of success in standard criminal justice terms. The authors of this paper suggest that ifrestorative justice is properly understood in terms of its focus on relationship, success should be measured on new and different dimensions. This paper seeks to bring a relational imagination to the scholarly effort of capturing the essence ofrestorative justice and figuring out how to assess its successes and failures. The authors offer a foundation and agenda for future research and development of a relational approach to assessment.

Recommended Citation

Jennifer J. Llewellyn, Bruce P. Archibald, Don Clairmont, and Diane Crocker, "Imagining Success for a Restorative Approach to Justice: Implications for Measurement and Evaluation" (2013) 36:2 Dal LJ 281.