In Research Summary, published by Corrections Research and Development, Solicitor General Canada, the question was posed "Can restorative justice programs influence offender recidivism?" Two approaches to answering the question posed were undertaken. First, a review of the literature on the impact of restorative justice programs on offender recidivism was conducted. Second, a restorative justice program in Canada was formally evaluated with recidivism measured three years after completion of the program. The results from the literature review found that restorative justice programs had a small effect on offender recidivism. Based on 46 studies with nearly 23,000 participants, restorative justice programs, on average, were associated with a decrease of 3% in recidivism. Contrary to expectations, the programs were more effective with adults (8% reduction) than with young (2% reduction). Providing some form of restitution to victims was the activity most associated with reductions in offender recidivism.
Second, an evaluation of a restorative justice program in one city was conducted. The program participants were compared to a group of probationers with similar offence and criminal history characteristics but who did not participate in the restorative justice program. The offenders who participated in the restorative justice program had lower recidivism rates than the matched group of probationers. With each year during the follow-up the differences in recidivism rates for the two groups widened. At the first year, the restorative justice offenders had a recidivism rate of 15% compared to 38% for the probation group. At the second year the respective rates were 28% and 54% and by the third year the rates were 35% and 66%.
(Text copied from ICPA News, June 2003)
An article about this research has been published in the Contemporary Justice Review:
Bonta, J., Wallace-Capretta, S., Rooney, J. and McAnoy, K. (2002). An outcome evaluation of a restorative justice alternative to incarceration. Contemporary Justice Review, 5, 319-338.
The full text of this article can be downloaded from the website of the Contemporary Justice Review. Go to http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/10282580.html, click on ''table of contents'', then on ''Volume 5, Number 4/2002'', and finally on the title of the article. |
