Legitimizing Community-Based Restorative Justice: Strategies for Local Organizations

• In Event: Restorative Justice Research

Abstract

Although restorative justice organizations in Northern Ireland are now integral parts of the post-conflict landscape and are widely viewed as ‘respectable’, they faced significant initial challenges in gaining local legitimacy. Using a case study approach, this research explores the three primary critiques faced by a local restorative justice organization in Belfast. At their roots, these criticisms resonate with hurdles encountered by other community-based organizations working in justice and security contexts. For instance, the organization was criticized for being “soft” and coddling the people responsible for harm; for employing formerly incarcerated individuals and ex-combatants and the perceived risks this entailed; and for collaborating with state agencies seen as the community’s “enemy.” By examining the techniques undertaken to counter these critiques—including legitimizing restorative approaches per se, legitimizing the organization and its staff, and legitimizing relationships with state agencies—this example offers general lessons for community-based organizations elsewhere. As such, this case study provides restorative justice schemes and non-state actors with strategies for building legitimacy and respectability at the community level.

Author

• Allely Albert, Queen’s University Belfast