While the basic idea of restorative justice can be traced back as far as the biblical idea of shalom—that is, the justice of right relationships, not merely of retribution—the term “restorative justice” and the practices associated with it have gained renewed attention over the past several decades as Americans in particular have recognized the shortcomings of our criminal justice system, based as it is on punishment for legal violations. The restorative paradigm, in contrast, recognizes that often crime is not only a matter of broken laws, but also of broken relationships and harms to real people and communities, which must be healed and restored if all are to be given their due.

Redemption and Restoration: A Catholic Perspective on Restorative Justice presents an accessible and uniquely interdisciplinary approach to the concept and practice of restorative justice through its method of collaborative authorship among the faculty and friends of Mount St. Mary's University. Unlike a typical edited volume with discretely authored essays around a theme, the sixteen contributors to this book each offer a piece of a larger argument based on their own particular area of expertise, which are cohesively woven together with compelling case studies and commentary from the editors throughout. The book was initiated by the Catholic Mobilizing Network (CMN), a national organization working to end the death penalty and promote restorative justice, as a follow-up to an earlier project, Where Justice and Mercy Meet: A Catholic Perspective on the Death Penalty (Liturgical Press, 2013), and both books were developed through an extensive process of discussion and collaboration among contributors with backgrounds in sociology and criminal justice, economics, philosophy, and law, as well as theology and social justice activism. The result is a text that is both theoretically rich and practically oriented, avoiding the pitfall of superficiality that can plague interdisciplinary work.

The book begins by framing the issue with an outline of theories of justice as well as a picture of the criminal justice system in the United States, and moves on to address theological foundations and articulations of the restorative paradigm in Scripture and Catholic social teaching. The final part of the book focuses on practical examples of individuals, organizations, and faith communities who are working to implement this restorative approach in their own contexts. While the structure of the book thus echoes the “see-judge-act” method of critical analysis, readers are encouraged to “see” and “judge” throughout the book through the inclusion of case studies and questions for discussion in each chapter. The book also addresses important related issues such as the racial inequities within the US criminal justice system and the relationship between forgiveness and restorative justice. Through its inclusion of many case studies and voices of those actively engaged in restorative justice processes, the book demonstrates how restoration often comes through encounter between victim and perpetrator within a broader community, and shows how practices such as restorative justice circles and victim-offender dialogues can work as either an alternative or a supplement to conventional forms of punishment such as incarceration.

Redemption and Restoration might serve as a resource for academic courses in theology, interdisciplinary studies, and criminal justice, and for community organizers, social workers, parishes and their pastors. Readers are likely to find the book both engaging and timely, as there is growing dissatisfaction across the political spectrum with the inefficacy and economic and social costs of the US criminal justice system. Whether in the context of rethinking a failed war on drugs, addressing hate crimes, adjudicating crime and conflict on campus, or even addressing the sexual abuse crisis in the church, restorative justice is a creative and hopeful alternative to the status quo, and Conway, McCarty, Schieber, and their colleagues have provided a fitting introduction to its theory and practice in this book.