Politics of Restorative Justice

"In The Politics of Restorative Justice, 2nd edition, Andrew Woolford and Amanda Nelund reconsider restorative justice and its politics. Their examination of restorative themes, theories and practices, explores four distinct ways in which politics affect restorative justice. First, restorative justice is situated in a context in which political actors either enable or obstruct its practice. Second, restorative justice exists in a context that includes intersecting patterns of patriarchal, racialized, hetero-normative, settler-colonial, class-based and other forms of social domination. Third, restorative justice is understood as a contributor to political power in that its practice helps govern individual and collective behaviour. Finally, restorative justice as a social movement requires an enabling politics that will allow it to promote a justice that does more than affirm the status quo. To aspire toward a transformative politics, it must be concerned with class-based, gendered, racialized and other injustices. The second edition expands on how intersecting socio-political contexts -- gendered, racialized, settler colonial, hetero-normative, and others -- contour the practice and potential of restorative justice. In addition to updates of examples and data, the new edition adds discussion of: the embodied and emotional politics of restorative justice, transformative restorative justice, and restorative justice and other-than-human actors/ecological justice."--