Informal Reckonings

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 John is the author of 'Informal Reckonings', published 2008 under ISBN 9780415429344 and ISBN 041542934X.