Piecing the Puzzle: Restorative Justice with Children and Young Offenders in Scandinavia, an Interview Study with Professionals

Abstract

The modern roots of restorative justice in Scandinavia go back to the emergence of the mediation movement in Norway in the mid 1970s (Miers, 2001), a process that reached Sweden in the late 1980s (Wahlin, 2005). Victim Offender Mediation (VOM) in Sweden, and Youth Punishment (YP) in Norway, are some of the processes based on the primary components of restorative justice. This means that emphasis is on addressing the consequences of the offense through the involvement of those who have a stake in the specific offense (Marshall, 1999; Zehr, 2015). The aim of this study was to explore and gain knowledge about professionals’ perspectives on the elements and conditions that enable restorative justice to be implemented with children and young offenders in Scandinavia. Through the perspective of professionals who have worked with VOM and YP, this study is aimed at exploring the key pieces that make possible to carry out these restorative processes (RP). For this purpose, qualitative, semi-structured and individual interviews were conducted with six professionals with practical experience from working with VOM and YP with children and young offenders in Sweden and Norway. Thematic analysis, an interpretative orientation and a phenomenological approach guided the analysis of the empirical data. The findings led to the identification of four key elements that facilitates the implementation of restorative justice with children and young offenders in Scandinavia: the awareness of theory which concern the command of theoretical concepts, legal and practical knowledge that the professionals have on restorative justice; the process conditions that professionals identified as requirements to be met during the practice in order to establish favorable conditions for the development of the process; the stakeholders’ wills made up of socio-participatory elements that are considered by professionals as necessary for the implementation of restorative justice; and the Scandinavian opportunity characterized by the exceptional community will, lenient justice systems and a more humanitarian criminal policy that provides to the region with ideal socio-political conditions to implement restorative practices. Professionals, offenders, victims, and support networks are interdependent through these key pieces that make up the Scandinavian puzzle. The study concludes with some recommendations and practical implications for offenders, victims, and professionals. It is necessary to expand the research within the social work field in order to integrate stakeholders’ perspectives and find strategies that increase their willingness to participate in the processes. Future studies should address the possibility for offenders and victims to further guarantee and enhance their access to RP regardless of the will of the direct counterpart. Further exploring the experiences of social workers engaged in restorative justice may bring a complementary perspective to the existing body of literature coming from social disciplines such as criminology and the legal field.