What Future for 'Public Safety' and 'Restorative Justice' in Community Corrections

摘要

'Public safety' and 'restorative justice' are big ideas now making claims on the future of community corrections. They are appealing as strategic objectives for probation and parole agencies that are unable to generate fiscal and political support for the modest objectives of 'enforcing court orders,' 'meeting client needs,' and 'reducing recidivism.' When the two ideas are examined more closely, however, their futures seem uncertain. They have important features in common, but they conflict in ways which, left unresolved, could sap their strategic value; they face challenges to which they are unevenly suited; and each requires daunting transformations of the criminal justice system. If public safety and restorative justice are to have a future in community corrections as strategic objectives for probation and parole, an assessment of their relative merits is in order.