A systematic review by the Campbell identified 10 studies that evaluated restorative meetings between offenders and victims. A total of 2,613 people took part, 1,879 offenders and 734 victims. Nine of those studies have identified a significant reduction in criminal recidivism, ranging from 7% to 45%. Only one of those studies has found a small increase in recidivism rates, but without any statistical significance. Restorative Justice interventions have a greater impact when applied to violent crimes, with a 28% reduction in recidivism, while in cases of property crime the effect is practically nil [1].
A systematic review by the Campbell identified 10 studies that evaluated restorative meetings between offenders and victims. A total of 2,613 people took part, 1,879 offenders and 734 victims. Nine of those studies have identified a significant reduction in criminal recidivism, ranging from 7% to 45%. Only one of those studies has found a small increase in recidivism rates, but without any statistical significance. Restorative Justice interventions have a greater impact when applied to violent crimes, with a 28% reduction in recidivism, while in cases of property crime the effect is practically nil [1].
A meta-analysis included 14 studies with a specific focus on the practice of Restorative Justice applied through Family Group Conferences to cases in which there were offenses related to family and child maltreatment (with 12 independent samples) and found that, overall, this type of intervention had no statistically significant impact on child maltreatment, cases of removal of young people from their homes, and participation in youth protection services. Although retrospective studies have found the intervention to be more effective than usual care programs, prospective studies have not found the same difference [2].
The authors of another meta-analysis compared Restorative Justice programs with traditional non-restorative approaches and sought to understand their impact on four outcomes: victim and offender satisfaction, restitution compliance, and recidivism. Encompassing 22 unique studies that examined the effectiveness of 35 individual Restorative Justice programs, the meta-analysis found that Restorative Justice programs produced, on average, reductions in recidivism, higher rates of victim satisfaction, higher offender satisfaction (although not statistically significant), and higher rates of restitution compliance. However, those positive findings should be relativized, as according to the authors, an important self-selection bias inherent in Restorative Justice research was found [3].