Conferencing and Restorative Justice: International Practices and Perspectives offers an analysis of conferencing practices around the world, examining the range of approaches to different types of crimes and offender age groups, and assessing their outcomes. First developed in New Zealand and Australia in the 1990s, conferencing is a restorative justice practice which has since spread to a number of other countries as an effective
tool in crime reduction. By encouraging the offender, the victim(s) and family members, and a facilitator to meet and discuss the crime and its consequences, and then to find a just and acceptable outcome for
all, those involved hope to repair the harm inflicted upon the victim, the community and society in general. In this book, the editors have drawn together some of the leading figures in the restorative justice community to look at the current condition of such practices, particularly internationally, and to analyse the processes and outcomes of conferencing, compared with the European-favoured, victim-offender mediation.