Generally, restorative justice processes at all points create a unique platform for offenders to be held accountable, to accept responsibility and to repair the harm they have caused.
See Criminal Justice above for points in the criminal justice system at which restorative justice processes can be implemented.
Regarding reintegration, by addressing the roots of the incident and attending to offenders’ needs, restorative justice processes have been shown to be very effective in reducing the rates of re-offending. The key finding of Sherman and Strang (Sherman, L. & Strang, H. et al 2015. Twelve experiments in restorative justice: the Jerry Lee program of randomized trials of restorative justice conferences. In J Exp Criminol (2015) 11:501–540 available at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11292-015-9247-6 ) with regard to repeat offending, and contrary to conventional wisdom, is that restorative justice may work better with more serious crimes than with less serious crimes. Some specific studies have shown that restorative justice may be less effective with certain specific groups of offenders.