“Restorative Justice”: History of the Term’s International and Danish Use

Abstract

In this article, I explore the historical origin and development of the use of the term "restorative justice" in published sources. The main argument is that the growing popularity of the term and its expanding use makes increasingly blurred what restorative justice is. I begin by investigating the term's international usage, tracing it back to written sources from the nineteenth century. Then, I cite personal communication with Howard Zehr to describe how his use of the term was inspired by Albert Eglash. Zehr initially popularised the term and, in the 1990s, use of the term expanded. In the 2000s, the term began to appear in United Nations and European Union documents, illustrating that restorative justice had become an internationally recognised approach to justice. After describing this international development, I analyse the Danish context, where the term "restorative justice" began to appear in writings around the year 2000. Around the same time, the existing Danish victim offender mediation programme became connected to restorative justice. Later, Danish practices outside the area of criminal justice became associated with the term. In conclusion, I argue that a potential problem of the expanded use of the term "restorative justice"-both in Denmark and internationally-is that usage may become so broad that the concept loses its meaning.

Is restorative justice punishment?

“…Before homing in on the various statements and their relationship to restorative justice, I want to emphasize that the term “restorative justice” has been used to refer to many different kinds of processes. When the term first began to be used in the criminal justice literature of the 1970s and 1980s, this was exclusively in the context of domestic criminal justice (see Gade, 2018). As the term won increasing popularity in the 1990s, however, existing practices began to be relabeled as “restorative justice.” As explained by Daly:

During the 1990s, restorative justice became immensely popular, eclipsing and overtaking other justice ideas circulating during the 1970s and 1980s—a range of restitution, reparation, reconciliation and informal justice projects (Daly, 2013, p. 357).

The increased popularity of the term coincided with both an upward and a downward expansion in its use.…”

“…In so doing, Barnett initiated a paradigm thinking that was to become very important in the restorative justice literature, particularly with the writings of Zehr. Having first encountered the term “restorative justice” in Eglash's 1977 article (see Gade, 2018, p. 30), Zehr suggested, in response to Barnett, that the new criminal justice paradigm should be termed “restorative justice” rather than “restitution” (Zehr, 1985). His argument was that punishment belongs to the old criminal justice paradigm of retributive justice—the very paradigm that, according to Zehr, should be replaced by restorative justice.…”

“…The term "restorative justice" can be traced back to the 19th century (Gade, 2018), but it was not until the 1970s that it started to emerge in the field of criminal justice. The first time this happened was probably in Eglash's (1977) article, "Beyond Restitution: Creative Restitution," which is also the first text in the trajectory of difference that I trace.…”

“…Before homing in on the various statements and their relationship to restorative justice, I want to emphasize that the term "restorative justice" has been used to refer to many different kinds of processes. When the term first began to be used in the criminal justice literature of the 1970s and 1980s, this was exclusively in the context of domestic criminal justice (see Gade, 2018). As the term won increasing popularity in the 1990s, however, existing practices began to be relabeled as "restorative justice."…”

External validity and assignment of experimental vs. control treatment providers within small work groups: a research note

“…They occur not as a diversion from prosecution but as an add-on to criminal justice at almost any stage in the process, including offenders serving prison sentences. Each of Denmark's 12 current police districts has a police employee serving as the main coordinator of the offers made to offenders and victims to attend such meetings, which are led by non-police who are trained as mediators (Gade 2018;Storgaard 2015).…”