Change Makers in Restorative Justice

This book examines non-state justice approaches to community safety and conflict transformation, focusing on a unique model of community-based restorative justice which emerged as part of the Northern Ireland peace process. The model includes former politically motivated prisoners as managers and practitioners of restorative justice processes, contrasting from designs which ordinarily include such individuals as participants. The book uses ground-breaking insider ethnographic fieldwork and interviews to explore two main aspects of this innovative model: first, the impact of ex-prisoner practitioners on restorative practice; and second, the impact of the practitioner role on ex-prisoner re-entry. Although the organisation utilising this approach has received significant international attention for its contribution to Northern Ireland’s wider peacebuilding process, the specific impact of ex-prisoner practitioners on restorative practices has not been investigated. This book tells that story, demonstrating that ex-prisoner leadership has been crucial in transforming restorative justice – yielding robust practitioner skillsets and positionalities that enhance restorative dynamics, while also generating opportunities that improve reintegration and desistance. It concludes that lessons from Northern Ireland provide essential benefits for restorative justice systems, and, through a pilot study in the United States, additionally suggests that lived experience models have the capacity to advance safety, peacebuilding, and social justice mechanisms in other contexts. Change Makers in Restorative Justice will be of interest to academics working in criminology and peacebuilding contexts, and will offer particular insight to those in the restorative justice field. Its findings will additionally be relevant to practitioners and policymakers due to its practical contribution towards improving justice and re-entry praxis through lived experience.