The purpose of this book is to offer an analysis of empirical research carried out within European countries with regard to restorative justice. This is not another collection of theoretical essays on restorative justice. Neither is the book dealing with international research projects (apart from the work presented in Chapter 2 and references made in the chapter on Italy), which have been implemented in Europe during the last ten years mainly with financial support from the EU. Furthermore,‘restorative justice’ is investigated through its operational models; in particular the focus will be on VOM and conferencing since they are considered to be the most restorative practices (McCold and Wachtel, 2002). In the respective chapters, authors may briefly refer to other practices that are considered as restorative in their country.
The nine countries included in the book have developed research on the topic,to a varying extent. Reviewing this research and its results offers an insight on the state of affairs, not only of the research but also of the restorative practices and policies in those countries. The concluding chapter provides an overview of research results and furthermore reflects upon the difficulty of collecting comparable research materials in Europe.
Each country contributor was given a template delineating three common types of research: descriptive-inventory research, action-research and evaluative research. After a general introduction on the state of affairs with regard to the practices and legislation on VOM and FGC in their country, the authors present the different types of research conducted so far in that country in detail, including the setup, research methodology and main results. Not all authors could strictly adhere to the scheme because of differences in restorative justice and research developments between countries, various research cultures and modes of cooperation, and combinations of the abovementioned research types. Nevertheless, the template was used as a common framework to present the available research.