Rights and Restoration within Youth Justice is an edited, peer-reviewed Volume of original papers written by leading scholars in the fields of restorative justice, human rights, youth justice and policy and criminal justice. The book is edited by Dr. Theo Gavrielides and published by de sitter Publications, Canada. The book aims to open up the international debate on evidence-based youth justice policy by challenging current thinking.
It is not often that the disciplines of human rights and restorative justice are brought under the same roof. And yet, they share common principles such as empowerment, inclusion, participation and individual responsibility. When put in the context of youth justice, their relationship becomes clear. This volume asks how we move on from isolated intellectual debates to making human rights and restorative justice really count in youth policy and practice, independently of political belief, cultural circumstances and country of origin.
The book is divided into two sections and aims to provide a forum for scholarly reflection on the contribution of human rights and restorative justice for youth justice. Part I engages with the theoretical dimension of human rights and restorative justice, and aims to challenge current thinking through critical essays that deconstruct the foundations of the two notions. Part II exposes various international projects which through an evidence-based, measurable model illustrate the challenges and opportunities associated with the implementation of restorative justice and human rights for youth justice. The chapters are supported by various short case studies that were written by practitioners with the aim of instilling a sense of “on the ground” flavour of the pitfalls and advantages of using restorative justice and human rights principles for youth justice. It was not the intention of this volume to speak for or against restorative justice and human rights. The focus was the development of their principles and practices.
The project is carried out under the auspices of Independent Academic Research Studies (IARS), Open University and the CCJRD at Mount Royal University. The Table of Contents can be downloaded from here.
This is an important and timely collection on a topic that has been neglected by both the human rights and restorative justice movements. It traverses a great diversity of specific and crucial issues. Perhaps the single most impressive feature that distinguishes this collection from others on restorative justice is that it corrects the usual focus on North America, Western Europe and the Antipodes with learnings from Central and Southern Europe. Many of these Central European and Mediterranean lessons are profound ones that can greatly enrich the predominantly North Atlantic restorative debate.
Prof. John Braithwaite, Australian National University
What is restorative justice?
"Restorative Justice is an ethos with practical goals, among which is to restore harm by including affected parties in a (direct or indirect) encounter and a process of understanding through voluntary and honest dialogue.
Restorative justice adopts a fresh approach to conflicts and their control, retaining at the same time certain rehabilitative goals" (Gavrielides 2007)
The book's key objective and audience
The key objective of the book is to bring together the disciplines of human rights and restorative justice as these have been used, or could be used, for youth justice. Through an international, comparative and multi-disciplinary manner, the book aims to push the barriers for both restorative justice and human rights opening up the political and policy debate on penal reform for youth justice.
Audience: Senior-level capstone courses and upper-level seminars that review and expand on key areas of study in law, human rights, criminal justice, criminology and political science departments. The book is also intended for researchers, policymakers, practitioners and campaigners.
"The exclusion of users in the formation of social policy that affects them and the discounting of intellectual debates by those in decision making positions creates a frail democracy that is not fit for RJ and human rights".
Dr. Theo Gavrielides, IARS
INFORMATION FOR AUTHORS
Please click on the links below for:
- the Editorial Guidelines
- the Table of Contents
- the Contributors' Release Form
- the Abstracts
- the Notes on Contributors
For more information contact the Editor, Dr. Theo Gavrielides, Director IARS, T.Gavrielides@iars.org.uk 159 Clapham Road, London SW9 0PU, UK.
