Restorative Justice Conferencing for Reducing Recidivism in Young Offenders (aged 7 to 21)

• NCJ Number: 306284
• Author(s): Nuala Livingstone; Geraldine Macdonald; Nicola Carr
• Date Published: February 2013

Annotation

This study evaluated the effects of restorative justice conferencing programs for reducing recidivism in young offenders.

Abstract

The authors searched the following databases up to May 2012: CENTRAL, 2012 Issue 5, MEDLINE (1978 to current), Bibliography of Nordic Criminology (1999 to current), Index to Theses (1716 to current), PsycINFO (1887 to current), Social Sciences Citation Index (1970 to current), Sociological Abstracts (1952 to current), Social Care Online (1985 to current), Restorative Justice Online (1975 to current), Scopus (1823 to current), Science Direct (1823 to current), LILACS (1982 to current), ERIC (1966 to current), Restorative Justice Online (4 May 2012), WorldCat (9 May 2012), ClinicalTrials.gov (19 May 2012) and ICTRP (19 May 2012). ASSIA, National Criminal Justice Reference Service and Social Services Abstracts were searched up to May 2011. Relevant bibliographies, conference programs and journals were also searched. The authors concluded there is currently a lack of high-quality evidence regarding the effectiveness of restorative justice conferencing for young offenders. Caution is urged in interpreting the results of this review considering the small number of included studies, subsequent low power, and high risk of bias. The effects may potentially be more evident for victims than offenders. The need for further research in this area is highlighted. (Published abstract provided)