Book Review: Restorative Justice Dialogue: An Essential Guide for Research and Practice

• Date: 01 December 2011
• Published date: 01 December 2011
• DOI: 10.1177/0734016811402028
• Author: Michael J. Gilbert
• Subject Matter: Book Reviews

resulted in the inmates’ social vulnerability and personal pathology, not their empowerment,

because the rejection of the social origins of women’s problems allowed the women’s angst to fester.

The analysis begun in Chapter 5 is extended in Chapter 6, as the author describes how the per-

sonal pathology women experienced led to them turning on themselves and on one another. Here, the

author cites several inmate responses to the pathological environment they resided in, including

competing with one another to tell the most painful and traumatic stories of their lives and through

withdrawing. Withdrawing meant participating in required activities in a ‘‘mechanical, almost

robotic way,’’ or, when allowed to do so, sleeping. Haney argues that the program left the women

in a state of ‘‘disentitlement,’’ by not allowing them to speak about social injustice, social inequality,

or imagining societal change. The conclusion returns to this state of disentitlement by theorizing its

causes and consequences, and contemplates how penal institutions could be reformed to pose real

alternatives to it. Haney argues that by refocusing institutional narratives on the social, we can chal-

lenge the ‘‘therapeutics of neoliberalism,’’ counteract the contemporary ‘‘politicsof disentitlement,’’

and penal institutions can live up to their promise as real alternatives to incarceration.

This book makes a significant contribution to feminist scholarship, critical criminology, and the

growing body of literature in the sociology of punishment. The work has significance beyond its

analysis of Alliance and Visions as case studies of penal institutions masked as alternatives to incar-

ceration. The author has done a tremendous job of connecting her observations and findings to larger

patterns of state power and governance. In doing so, she has unearthed the structural roots of differ-

ent penal discourses and the institutional roots of different strategies of governance. More important,

Haney has demonstrated how strategies of governance can disentitle poor women, replicating the

broader ‘‘politics of disentitlement,’’ in the larger society. While the critical, feminist perspective

employed in this book may be too deep for some undergraduates to grasp, this book is ideal for

graduate courses in law, women’s studies, criminal justice, sociology, and social work.

M. Umbreit and M. P. Armour

Restorative Justice Dialogue: An Essential Guide for Research and Practice New York, NY: Springer Publishing

Company, 2010. 399 pp. $50.00. ISBN: 9-780-826-12258-2

Reviewed by: Michael J. Gilbert, University of Texas, San Antonio, TX, USA

DOI: 10.1177/0734016811402028

Restorative Justice Dialogue by Umbreit and Armour (2010) is an exceptional work and a valuable

resource for students, academics, and practitioners interested in evidence-based practices in restora-

tive justice. The authors are well-known for their work in restorative justice. The lead author is one

of the most widely published restorative justice researchers in the world. Their well-written,

efficiently presented, and careful analysis provides detailed information not found, to this reviewer’s

knowledge, in any other single work. It is a must read for anyone interested in restorative justice

dialogue. It brings new content and insights with every chapter.

The opening chapter summarizes the development of restorative justice as a social movement

from its historical and cultural antecedents to the rise of modern restorative justice today. Although

this portion of the book may be familiar territory for most restorative justice scholars, it provides an

essential foundation for those new to the field. Many readers will find the section on ‘‘humanistic

mediation’’ new. It establishes a clear line of demarcation between restorative mediation and

traditionallegal mediation.This is a useful distinctionbecause victim–offender mediationin the restora-

tive context is often confused with mediation as employed by the legal profession. Confusion on this

point has been the source of resistance fromlocal district attorneys in some jurisdictions. The chapter

526 Criminal Justice Review 36(4)