A new approach to child justice? : exploring challenges and opportunities for restorative justice in the Western Cape from the perspectives of victims and perpetrators of youth crime
Master Thesis
2005
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University of Cape Town
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As restorative justice finds its way into the South Africa's thinking around improving the criminal justice system, there is little knowledge as to whether the key role players in a restorative justice approach, the victims and perpetrators, would find it desirable or feasible. Concerns around the appropriateness of restorative justice from the perspective of victims and perpetrators were born out of the complex social and historical context in South Africa, which it seemed, could pose challenges to the application of restorative justice. Hence the decision to consult with key role players who have had experience with crime and the existing criminal justice system on how they would perceive the concept of restorative justice as a means of dealing with criminal cases in South Africa. Given that restorstive justice has been proposed specifically for youth at this initial stage, the focus of the research was on criminal cases involving perpetrators below the age of 18 years. Through this process of consultation with victims and perpertrators of youth crime, the hope was to unpack some of the challenges and opportunities for restorative justice in South Africa. (133-139 pages missing).
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Shearer, A. 2005. A new approach to child justice? : exploring challenges and opportunities for restorative justice in the Western Cape from the perspectives of victims and perpetrators of youth crime. University of Cape Town.