The Local Provision of Restorative Justice in Scotland: an Exploratory Empirical Study
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The Local Provision of Restorative Justice in Scotland: an Exploratory Empirical Study Giuseppe Maglione 1
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& Jamie Buchan & Laura Robertson
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Accepted: 4 November 2020/ # The Author(s) 2020
Abstract
This article presents the results of the first empirical qualitative research on the provision of restorative justice (RJ) in Scotland, based on interviews with 14 practitioners. In Scotland, RJ has attracted the attention of penal reformers and practitioners since the late 1980s, offering an alternative to criminal justice practices based on retribution and/or rehabilitation whilst promising to reduce reoffending and heal people harmed by crime. In 2017, the Scottish Government has fully recognized the existence of RJ by issuing the first national ‘Guidance’ for the delivery of this process, followed by an ambitious ‘Action Plan’. In spite of such a long-lasting interest and recent policy recognition, there is a lack of knowledge regarding the organization and actual delivery of RJ in Scotland. In fact, research on this subject is scant, anecdotal and dated. This article addresses this knowledge gap by presenting original data on the provision of RJ within Scottish local authorities. The findings show similar understandings of RJ, context-specific organizational models and common systemic challenges characterizing RJ providers, generating evidence to critically assess recent Scottish policy on RJ, whilst drawing implications with relevance for the development of RJ across Europe. Keywords Restorative justice . Community justice . Qualitative interviews . System-level challenges . Scotland
Introduction and Objectives Criminal justice scholars have hailed restorative justice (RJ) as one of ‘the most significant developments in criminal justice and criminological practice and thinking’ (Crawford and Newburn 2003: 19) over the last 30 years, globally. The diffusion of practices inscribed under the label of ‘RJ’ has been slow but relentless, as evidenced by the development of ad hoc * Giuseppe Maglione [email protected]
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School of Applied Sciences, Edinburgh Napier University, Sighthill Campus, Edinburgh EH11 4BN, UK
G. Maglione et al.
policy, growth in public awareness and proliferation of academic research on this subject (Wood and Suzuki 2016). In Scotland, processes involving a facilitated dialogue between victims and offenders, aiming to repair the harm caused by crime, have attracted the attention of penal reformers and practitioners since the late 1980s (Warner 1992). Such processes, originally defined as ‘mediation and reparation’ programs and then rebranded as ‘RJ’ during the 1990s (Miers 2004), have offered an alternative to criminal justice practices based on retribution and/or rehabilitation whilst promising to reduce reoffending and heal people harmed by crime. Recently, the Scottish Government has fully recognized the existence of RJ by issuing the first national ‘Guidance for the Delivery of Restorative Justice’ in a bid to advance the development of RJ services in a ‘coherent, consistent
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