Restorative policing: in pursuit of principles

author Inge Vanfraechem
journal Cahiers Politiestudies (ISSN: 1784-5300)
volume Jaargang 2009
issue 11. Restorative policing
section Artikelen
publicatie datum 12 mai 2009
langue English
pagina 39
abstract

In this article, we first articulate some basic principles with regard to restorative justice and mediation. In the second section, we will have a look at practices of restorative policing, such as police mediation, neighbourhood mediation and mediating complaints towards the police. Rather than focusing on practical details, we describe these practices in general and, in particular, the literature and research around it, from a principled point of view. In the third section, we take the example of conferencing to evaluate (dis)advantages of involving police officers as facilitators2. We conclude that from the point of view of principles with regard to restorative justice and mediation, some issues arise when police facilitate communication processes between parties, such as a lack of neutrality and the impossibility of guaranteeing confidentiality. Nevertheless, we think that – from a maximalist point of view on restorative justice – the possibilities of mediation and conferencing as a tool for police work could have their merits and should be studied further...