Communities at Large: An Archaeological Analysis of the ‘Community’ Within Restorative Justice Policy and Laws

Maglione, Giuseppe

Abstract

Within the scholarly literature on restorative justice, the ‘community’, as a distinctive crime stakeholder, has been the target of extensive research. This work provides an original interpretation of the underlying images of the community within policy documents and legal statutes on RJ produced in England and Wales since 1985. The paper begins with an outline of the most recurrent representations of the community in relevant laws and policy, unearthing their theoretical underpinnings. The next step aims to infer from the general representations a range of more specific features, and to sketch out an ‘ideal’ model of community in restorative justice, whose cultural background is also outlined. As a final step, some critical reflections on the implications of the ‘ideal community’ are offered. By identifying what is taken for granted in laws and policies on restorative justice and its cultural context, this study aims to foster a critical ‘‘reality check’’ on this specific development of western penal policy, relevant for the restorative justice movement, at the international level.

Citation

Maglione, G. (2017). Communities at Large: An Archaeological Analysis of the ‘Community’ Within Restorative Justice Policy and Laws. Critical Criminology, 25(3), 453-469. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10612-017-9349-8

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 12, 2017
• Online Publication Date: Jan 28, 2017
• Publication Date: 2017-09
• Deposit Date: Jan 30, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 30, 2017
• Journal: Critical Criminology
• Print ISSN: 1205-8629
• Electronic ISSN: 1572-9877
• Publisher: BMC
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 25
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 453-469
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10612-017-9349-8
• Keywords: Restorative justice, community, culture,
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/677529
• Contract Date: Jan 30, 2017