RESOURCES: Review - An informative appraisal of restorativejustice

It is one element of the three Rs of contemporary youth justice, alongside responsibility and reintegration.

The authors, Adam Crawford and Tim Newburn, have written an informative and instructive account of the place of restoration within the restructured youth justice system.

They describe current procedures in considerable detail and subject them to robust interrogation. From the start, they point to the fact that even the concept of restorative justice is subject to different interpretations, and that there are different views about where and how it fits within the wider framework. In the authors' view, the most significant restorative development has been the creation of referral orders. For young people who plead guilty at their first appearance before the youth court, this involves their case being considered by a youth offender panel rather than the court.