An Examination of the Implementation of Restorative Justice in Canada and Family Group Conferencing Approaches in the UK

Darrell Fox, Venture Press
ISBN 1861780702,
£8.50

STAR RATING: 4/5






Interesting as an academic text, Fox’s work is also thought-provoking and challenging for the practitioner, writes John Whitfield.

The author provides us with a short history of restorative justice as well as highlighting the models of restorative justice, and in particular establishing the variations and similarities between the Wagga Wagga and the New Zealand models.

The use of the former in welfare issues and the latter in judicial matters is amply illustrated by the conference facilitator scripts which are included as appendices.

Restorative interventions or conferences are currently flavour of the month in many areas of social work from youth justice to mental health despite a lack of research evidence to support its “success”; and the author is quite rightly critical of some of the ways in which the original processes used by Aboriginal peoples have been interpreted.

The publication has an extensive bibliography and I would urge anyone engaged in these processes to read this.

John Whitfield is a lecturer in social work at the University of Hull