"I think of Liz Elliott's words : 'You can't get to a good place in a bad way.'"

• Main Author: Norris, William Craig
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2013
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/44614

Restorative justice is a term used to describe an array of practices growing in popularity as alternatives to the formal criminal justice system. Although restorative justice theory and process outcomes have been studied extensively, there has been minimal qualitative analysis in this field towards understanding how and why these practices work. This gap in knowledge led Choi (2008) to describe restorative justice as a “black box”. This research seeks to illuminate the ‘black box’ through a qualitative study of experiences of some of the practitioners who guide restorative justice with ‘serious’ cases. These participants described a great passion for restorative justice and a commitment to reflexive practice. They were willing to critically explore their own experiences, the processes they work within, and the theories and ethics of this evolving field. Emergent themes included: The importance of the impact of crime, experiences illuminating the ‘black box’, the role of mentorship in restorative justice, experiences of witnessing stories, the importance of relationships and communities, questions of standards and standardization, and the misuse of power in restorative justice. A dominant over-arching theme expressed by all participants was a caution that as restorative justice moves towards legitimization it should do so ‘in a good way’ by honouring the values and ethics it was founded upon.