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Revisiting Informal Justice: Restorative Justice and Democratic Professionalism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2024

Susan M. Olson  and
Albert W. Dzur
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Abstract

Restorative justice is a form of informal justice growing rapidly among criminal justice practitioners. It decenters the focus of criminal justice from the offender breaking a law of the state to the harm caused the victim and community. Resolution is said to come from offenders taking responsibility and making amends for the harm done and from communities supporting the victim and providing offenders with opportunities and skills to reintegrate as contributing members.

Restorative justice theory largely ignores the role of professionals in the criminal justice process, and yet professionals have played a dominant part in initiating many restorative justice programs. Several theoretical traditions recognize professionals as being important intermediaries between citizens and the state. The theory of democratic professionalism argues that professionals can play crucial roles in increasing and improving democratic participation in public affairs. This article examines two functioning restorative justice programs to flesh out what democratic professionalism might look like in operation—what tasks professionals perform and what citizen involvement means to the professionals. We argue that restorative justice cannot get along without professionals and that democratic professionalism may help restorative justice to avoid some of the problems associated with other approaches to informal justice by increasing true community participation but balancing it with concern for individuals' rights.

Type
Articles Of General Interest
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 38 , Issue 1 , January 2004 , pp. 139 - 176
Copyright
© 2004 Law and Society Association.

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Footnotes

This article is the product of equal contribution from both authors.

We would like to thank Christine Harrington for her comments on an earlier draft. We wish to thank the members of the Passages citizen review board for welcoming us into their deliberations every other week for 16 months.

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