In recent years there have been developments in the arena of Criminal Justice prompting those dealing with youth crime in particular to review their approach. Different strands are coming together from different parts of the world, as described by Martin Wright in his book 'Restoring Respect for Justice'. (Wright 1999) He highlights early victim/offender mediation that grew from an initiative in Ontario, Canada and has now spread from there, via the United States to Europe. He also makes reference to 'conferencing' - a meeting of the extended families of both victims and offenders, developed from the interaction of Western and Indigenous peoples in New Zealand and Canada. A third strand involves a theoretical study by John Braithwaite (Braithwaite 1989) who was considering the impact of a 'reintegrative shaming process' in which offenders have their behaviour disapproved of by those close to them but who can nevertheless be supported in reparation and re-integration back into the community. Different 'Restorative Justice Approaches' are being developed around the world in response to local situations but as Wright says:

'A family of theories is evolving. Different aspects and methods are emphasised, but there is a common underlying philosophy; the Restorative Justice Consortium (1999) has drawn up a definition and standards, and guidelines for good practice have been drawn up in Britain and Germany (Mediation UK, 1998; Serviceburo, 1998).'

My inspiration for work in schools has come from a number of sources. One of the first theorists in the field of Restorative Justice, Howard Zehr, the Director of the first Victim/Offender Reconciliation Programme in the United States, drew up a paradigm in which he compared traditional retributive justice philosophy with restorative justice values and ideas (1990). When I first discovered this I could see immediate parallels with approaches to behaviour management in schools and I re-wrote the paradigm with a schools focus.