• EAN: 9781876861063
  • 326 pages; 6" x 8⅝"
Filed Under: Penology

Restorative Justice and Responsive Regulation

$55.00

Product Description

Restorative justice has become an important new way of thinking about crime, responsive regulation an influential way of thinking about business regulation.

In this volume, John Braithwaite brings together his important work on restorative justice with his work on business regulation to form a sweepingly novel picture of the way society regulates itself.

Braithwaite, internationally renowned for his work on restorative justice, has argued that restoring victims, offenders, and communities is more effective than punitive practices for deterring, incapacitating, and rehabilitating offenders. In this fascinating book, he reconceives responsive regulation as an approach to regulating any phenomenon.

Offering an original and incisive argument, he establishes the relevance of the business regulation literature on responsive regulation to the problem of crime and the relevance of the restorative justice literature on crime not only to business regulation but also to many of our biggest social and economic problems. These include the problems of war and peace, education, poverty, and sustainable development.

Braithwaite’s theories offer radically different ways of thinking about policies to confront these problems. They also propose a complete transformation of the legal system – from tort to tax – in accordance with the principles of restorative justice and responsive regulation. Braithwaite summarises a great deal of research evidence – from criminal justice in the case of restorative practices, from business in the case of responsive regulation – on how and why restorative justice and responsive regulation works in healing our biggest social problems. This book offers compelling arguments for a problem-solving approach to social ills, and challenges us to develop a legal system that works more efficiently and fairly with a morally decent approach to social problems of all stripes.

The rise and fall of restorative justice

Responsive regulation

Does restorative justice work?

Theories that might explain why restorative justice works

Worries about restorative justice

World peacemaking

Sustainable development

Transforming the legal system

References/ Index

A masterpiece integrating normative and explanatory theory of social control. From democracy to deterrence, from welfare to warefare, Braithwaite’s imagination points us in promising directions research and action. Far from simple advocacy, this treatise presents a pinnacle of evidence-based, self-critical social reform. Anyone who takes justice seriously must read this book. – Professor Lawrence W Sherman, Director of the Fels Centre of Government, University of Pennsylvania

A persuasive account of how we might make our social and political worlds a little more decent. It is Braithwaite at his very best: comprehensive, illuminating and even at times inspiring. – Professor Philip Pettit, Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University

Few scholars have so consistently contributed such rich material to the broader theory and vision of restorative justice. In Restorative Justice and Responsive Regulation, John Braithwaite provides the most comprehensive analysis to date of the history, the successes, the dilemmas, and the challenges facing the restorative justice movement as it is currently developing throughout the world. By integrating his work as a scholar of business regulation with his extensive work as a criminologist. Braithwaite significantly widens the lens through which we understand the potential of restorative justice to deeply enrich the quality of community life and social progress. – Professor Mark S Umbreit, Direcotr, Centre for Restorative Justice and Peacemaking, University of Minnesota, School of Social Work

… a comprehensive and developed statement of [Braithwaite’s] research and theories on the integration and application of these strategies [ie restorative justice and responsive regulation] to move towards better outcomes for individuals and communities.

The writing style is clear and at times lyrical … a good balance between content dealing with historical context, theory, empirical evidence and practice. …

Professor Braithwaite is passionate about his subject without being uncritically evangelical. In discussing restorative justice and responsive regulation he notes their potential dangers, weaknesses and limits. The real strength of this book, however, is the strong links he draws between restorative justice and responsive regulation and the forces that drive and motivate human beings. While his ideal world in which ‘the forces of law are listening, fair and therefore legitimate’ seems like an utopian dream, it is not hard to be convinced that the mechanisms he champions do have a valuable place in regulating society’s ills. – Reform (Australian Law Reform Commission), Issue 83, 2003

Overall this book is an interesting read full of dynamic well-presented ideas on restorative justice. Professor Braithwaite’s extensive research and work in the field shines through strongly. – The Newcastle Law Review, Vol 8 N0 2, 2004-05

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