A Cooperative System of Justice: Restorative Justice for Offenders and Victims

Abstract

The adversarial court system is one based on contest where there are winners and losers. Some have suggested that our current adversarial justice system is concerned more with the strategic presentation of evidence in the interest of winning rather than with finding the truth behind adversaries' claims (see Chapter .5) or with finding a resolution to conflict. In this chapter I introduce one alternative to the adversarial justice system - restorative justice. I begin by describing what restorative justice is and what it looks like. I then summarise developments in restorative justice in Australia and overseas, as well as review what we currently know about bow restorative justice works to restore offenders and victims embroiled in conflict. Finally, I conclude with some reflections on the future of restorative justice, as well as bow apology and forgiveness feature in restorative processes.