17. Restorative, Transformative Justice
17.4 Restorative & Transformative Justice: Definitions and Conceptions
Dr. Alana Marie Abramson and Melissa Leanne Roberts, M.A.
Restorative justice is an approach to achieving justice that involves, to the extent possible, those who have a stake in a specific offense or harm to collectively identify and address harms, needs, and obligations in order to heal and put things as right as possible. (Zehr, 2015, p. 48)
Restorative justice is more than responding to crime in a different way. It is a way of interacting with one another and attending to needs arising from structural and systemic injustices. Braithwaite (2003) envisions the potential for restorative justice to radically transform the legal system, our family lives, conduct in the workplace, and the way we practice politics. Hopkins (2012) believes that “by using the principles and practices implicit in the restorative justice philosophy, we have a set of tools for ensuring greater social justice in every aspect of our lives” (p. 122). Harris (2004) captures this connection to social justice in her definition of restorative justice:
[t]ransformative, restorative justice focuses on a given point in time and on the specific people who are involved with one another at that time, as well as directing attention to both the preconditions and antecedents of that particular moment, which generally implicate factors and forces that go beyond the individuals most directly affected (p. 139).
Harms do not occur in a vacuum or in isolation. As suggested by Harris (2004), restorative justice also looks to the life events that led up to the incident. The short film The Woolf Within shows how restorative justice addresses preconditions that lead to harm.
Restorative justice in its most expansive definition is about individual, social, economic, and political transformation. Van Ness and Strong (2010) note the importance of turning the lens inward to examine our daily lives and how we treat others. This shift is a transformation of relationships within ourselves and with one another. Van Ness and Strong (2010) argue that individual perspective transformation leads to the recognition that some structures also need transformation. In the justice system, structures like the police and courts privilege some citizens over others, sideline the concerns of victims, include systemic and systematic barriers, and often cause further harm to people and relationships. This legacy demands a remediation or even a transformation of structures (Van Ness & Strong, 2010). Van Ness and Strong (2010) and Elliott (2011) contend that attending to both the individual and their relationships with social structures is necessary.
While this may be the most expansive definition, it is important to note that restorative justice is defined in many different ways and there is not one universally accepted definition. To organise the various definitions of restorative justice, Johnstone and Van Nes