5212654
9781904385868
From court-based diversion programmes to the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, so-called "informal justice" practices have, since the 1970s, enjoyed great popularity. This "reparative turn" provides reasons for both hope and concern. While conflict resolution techniques such as civil mediation, restorative justice and reparations provide opportunities for greater citizen participation in justice, they also raise the spectre of expanded state and social control. Informal Reckonings seeks to elucidate the prospects and perils of "informal justice" by situating those practices within the "informal/formal justice complex" - a socio-cultural formation within which reputedly antagonistic formal and informal legal tendencies combine to reproduce the juridical status quo. to chart a course out of the limiting space of this "complex," this book proposes that mediation, restorative justice, and reparations take on the features of informal "counterpublics" that, as arenas for the expression and mobilization of social and legal criticism, create momentum toward a truly transformative justiceWoolford, Andrew is the author of 'Informal Reckonings Conflict Resolution in Mediation, Restorative Justice, and Reparations', published 2007 under ISBN 9781904385868 and ISBN 1904385869.
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