Is restorative justice effective in reducing crime? Why or why not??

Question

criminal justice

Answer 1

It is not clear that restorative justice is more effective than the traditional criminal justice system at reducing recidivism.Preliminary results do show promise, however.  Further research is nevertheless needed to gain a clearer sense of the effects of restorative justice on the future behavior of offenders.

There is a clear lack of knowledge concerning the effects of restorative justice practices on the  criminal justice system along all four entry points.

Answer 2

I'm a criminal defense attorney and I used to sit on a county board for restorative justice.  I have to say that there is a great deal of interest in this in California.  The primary focus right now appears to be on minor crimes committed by kids.  Things like shoplifting or defacing property are pretty much all it does in this area right now.  

Evidently, restorative justice was very effective in New Zealand and Australia where I understand it is widespread.  I'm aware that New Zealand doesn't have anywhere near the crime we do in the US, so we'll see how well it works on our streets.  I think the US has a great degree of cynicism and callousness in our criminals so I'm a little doubtful.  Still, for the lighter crimes, it could be effective in curbing recidivism and the graduation to tougher offenses.