Restorative Justice (SW68H)
Professor Thomas D. Russell

Course credits: 3 

Course Format:  Lectures, seminars, group work, class presentations based on selected readings. 

This course will focus upon the philosophy and practice of Restorative Justice.  

Restorative Justice, which is also sometimes called Balanced and Restorative Justice, is an approach to criminal justice. Central to the practice of Restorative Justice is a conception of crime as harm to the victims.

The goals of Restorative Justice include holding the offender accountable for the harm to the victims and the community, repairing that harm to the extent possible, and developing competency in the offender so that the offender makes better future choices. Accountability, repair of harm, and development of future competency take place within mediated processes that balance the concerns of the victim, offender, and community.

Students will examine assumptions about crime and justice, and will compare and contrast retributive and restorative paradigms of justice. Students will scrutinize the roles of offender, victim, family, community representatives, church and state in the victim-centred process of justice. Course participants will study the theoretical and conceptual frames, as well as existing policies, programmes and specific examples.

On completion of the course, the student will: 

• Understand the principles, process and values conceptions of Restorative Justice
• Have examined the distinct model of Restorative Justice in comparison with other models of criminal justice and formal control systems
• Understand and be able to apply Restorative Justice theory
• Be familiar with Restorative Justice approaches to different types of crime
• Have examined the practice of Restorative Justice and studied a range of Restorative Justice techniques
• Have explored and analyzed some of the practical and political problems in implementing a model of Restorative Justice