Policymakers, social workers, and researchers have long been reflecting on how to respond to youth crime. In recent years, the concern that traditional approaches stemming from retributive and rehabilitative models of justice may no longer be viable responses to criminal acts has increased the interest in alternative measures and approaches originated within the restorative justice model. Central to this model is the notion that a criminal act is an offense against a victim within the context of a community, as opposed to a violation against the state. Thus, a criminal act engenders a conflict among people and harms the victim; justice cannot be achieved unless that conflict is solved and that harm repaired. Based on this view, the offender along with other individuals affected by ...