Restorative Justice in Asia Pacific ― Development, Implementation and Implications

Restorative justice is an approach to understanding and managing crime that has gained popularity since the 1980s. It has not only been widely adopted in the criminal justice systems of western countries, but it also strongly influences the traditional Retributive Justice systems used throughout Asia, including jurisdictions such as Hong Kong, Thailand, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and mainland China. It has been implemented in the fields of family disputes, juvenile justice, adult sentencing, school bullying, and prison management and has proved to be effective with empowering victims and healing other participants that in turn provide the space for offenders to help to rebuild a harmonious community and reintegrate themselves back into society. This edited volume is based on the greatly successful International Symposium on Restorative Justice, which has brought together a myriad of officials from different institutions and jurisdictions in the Asia Pacific Region who provide insights into restorative practices and solutions as well as the future direction of restorative justice throughout the region.

Lennon Yao-Chung Chang is Assistant Professor at the Department of Applied Social Science, City University of Hong Kong.

Dennis Sing-Wing Wong is Professor at the Department of Applied Social Science, City University of Hong Kong.

Brian Steels is Senior Research Fellow of Ethics, Equity and Social Justice at Curtin University, Australia.