The Restorative Justice Wager: The Promise and Hope of a Value-Based, Dialogue-Driven Approach to Conflict Resolution for Social Healing

Authors

Howard J. Vogel, Hamline University School of Law

Abstract

In this article, I explore the deep assumptions and commitments associated with what I have called the restorative justice wager and the way in which they are embodied in restorative justice dialogue, the heart of restorative justice practice, in order to describe the important contribution that restorative justice has to offer to conventional forms of conflict resolution that have emerged in recent years. For this purpose the article is divided into three parts. Part I explores the definition of restorative justice in a criminal context and beyond in order to set up the discussion of the restorative justice wager and the possibilities for healing presented by restorative justice dialogue that are taken up in Part II. In Part II, extended discussion is devoted to peacemaking circles, one of the four major forms of restorative justice, as the quintessential example of the transformative possibilities that restorative justice offers when careful and continuing attention is placed on the quality of the dialogue conducted in its practice. Here emphasis will be placed on the "inner frame"' of restorative justice as understood and practiced within peacemaking circles, as the key to initiating and maintaining careful attention to the quality of the dialogue in order to invite the transforming possibilities of such dialogue to emerge on the road to social healing that takes the restorative justice wager seriously as both the starting point, touchstone and purpose of engaging in restorative practices. In Part III, I offer a suggestion for the next step in constructing a relational theory of restorative justice and conflict resolution with the help of the principle of internal relations. In the Epilogue that follows Part III, I offer a brief personal reflection on the challenges and possibilities that restorative justice sets before us to address the on-going trauma caused by the clash between indigenous peoples and the immigrants who have settled upon their lands in the United States.

Disciplines

Criminal Law | Criminal Procedure | Dispute Resolution and Arbitration | Law | Law and Society

Recommended Citation

Howard J. Vogel, The Restorative Justice Wager: The Promise and Hope of a Value-Based, Dialogue-Driven Approach to Conflict Resolution for Social Healing, 8 Cardozo J. Conflict Resol. 565 (2007).
Available at: https://larc.cardozo.yu.edu/cjcr/vol8/iss2/7