Socio-Legal Discussion Group: Restorative Justice as Governance: Tracing Trajectories of Penal Politics

A new mode of penal governance, restorative justice has followed a turbulent trajectory in the UK. Drawing on a thematic analysis of qualitative interviews with advocates and professionals influencing criminal legal policy, this presentation charts the contemporary trajectory of restorative justice in the UK, in three ways. First, it shows how  an interrelated composite of explanations underlay marginalizations of restorative justice—including broader punitive emotional and managerial discourses along with key decisionmakers’ personal lack of attachment to the practice. Second, it demonstrates a dichotomy between restorative justice for young people and for adults, which fractures restorative justice as a mode of governance. Finally, it outlines how different political contexts and contests over sovereignty between the UK jurisdictions of England and Wales and Northern Ireland once again fractured the approach. Overall, it tracks with contributions to the growing literature about the politics of policymaking in general, and the politics of restorative justice policy in particular.