Criminal Punishment and Restorative Justice

Book excerpt: In Criminal Punishment and Restorative Justice author David J. Cornwell draws on bedrock issues in contemporary criminology and penology in order to contrast punitive and restorative responses to crime. He then looks at the forces that serve to constrain more emphatic adoption of restorative methods and - against a backdrop of increasing worldwide reliance on custody, 'touch solutions' and punitive thinking - examines the claims of restorative justice to mainstream adoption by governments. The book also provides an international perspective on the needs of victims and offenders alike and assesses how the worldwide trend towards punitive methods can be reversed by challenging offenders to take responsibility for their offences and to make practical reparation for the harm that they have caused. Such developments, the author argues, would serve to make 'corrections' more effective, civilised, humane, pragmatic, 'non-fanciful' and less driven by the often ill-considered politics of the moment.