Position Paper 2023

Transdisciplinary Research for Youth Justice – Position Paper 2023 24 approach and thus focusing on Charlie’s priorities or interests helps ensure that the goals or objectives of interventions are bespoke and meaningful to him. 4.5 From a restorative perspective Restorative approaches are underpinned by multi-disciplinary theoretical understandings that include psychology, sociology, and criminology. At their core, restorative approaches are relational practices that seek to bring those that have created harm together with those that have been harmed (Braithwaite, 1989; Rossner, 2017). They address harm by giving ‘ownership’ of conflict to those most involved in those conflicts, be that war, criminal and other harmful behaviour, or the conflicts embedded in our everyday lives (Dzur and Olson, 2004). In the case of Charlie, there are several points at which restorative approaches could have provided an opportunity to address harmful behaviours. Some of these interventions take place in formal criminal justice settings and are commonly referred to as ‘restorative justice’. Restorative justice approaches stand in contrast to retributive and punitive approaches that centre on state responses to crime and harm, instead seeking to bring together the harmed (victims) and the harmers (offenders) in controlled circumstances to repair, rebuild, and/or redress relationship breakdown (Van Camp and Wemmers, 2013). Restorative justice enjoys a strong and growing international evidence base and is increasingly incorporated in criminal justice policy around the world (Marder, 2020; Pali and Maglione, 2021). This includes interventions in policing, which can support diversionary, alternative, or complementary processes to traditional outcomes (Shapland et al, 2017); in probation, to support people making amends for harm, magnifying a role for victims, and supporting the role of communities in reintegration (Kirkwood and Hamad, 2019); in prisons (Calkin, 2021), where offending behavior and victim awareness programs support changes in attitude and behaviour; and in youth offending (Banwell-Moore, 2022; Hobson et al 2022), where restorative justice has been shown to provide young people with significant benefits in addressing offending behaviour and improving reflective and emotional skills. There are also applications in areas outside of the formal the criminal justice system, many focusing on young people like Charlie. These applications are often termed ‘restorative practices’ and are underpinned by the same relational philosophy as restorative justice but applied in a more diverse range of settings. Where restorative justice is reactive, restorative practices are proactive and preventative, applied in contexts where there is not always a clear harmed and harmer, or where there is no criminal justice element to the damaged