Restorative justice and victimology

Samenvatting

ABOUT THE BOOKThe book "Restorative Justice and Victimology: Euro-Africa Perspectives" is a well-researched book aim at contributing a comparative discourse, and Afrocentric knowledge to the body of literature in Restorative Justice and Victimology. The book is both practical and analytical. Arguably, the book is the first on Restorative Justice and Victimology in the international market researched and written by an African and Africa-based international scholar. Findings presented in the book demonstrate the potential benefits of restorative justice to governments and victims who may want to implement and participate in restorative justice. These include the "community crimino-vigilance", "crimino-econometrics" and "value for money" (vfm) potentials of restorative justice policy to governments. ... For some victims of crime, the possibility of getting an answer to the "why me?" question which victims often ask, provides victimoautological or self-policing strategy to preventing revictimisation, and a vehicle to Intra-Personal Harmony, reduction in fear of crime, and Inter-Personal Reconciliation. Perhaps to some victims of crimerestorative justice is not only seen as a model of justice that gives them "voice" but also as a "Harmony Restoration Therapy". For the international audience, the author suggests that the Afrocentric knowledge contained in this book is imperative to international academia and practitioners who often are commissioned to chair dispute resolution mechanisms in Africa. The success or failure of their efforts in resolving disputes in Africa, the author argues could strongly be dependent on their knowledge of the core African philosophy of Thoughts: cosmology (African worldview of conflict, crime and reconciliation),axiology (African values ofrestoration), ontology (African nature and conception of persons), and epistemology (source of knowledge for Africans). About the Author:Dr. Don John O. Omale (PhD) is a British Chevening Scholar of Criminology, Restorative Justice and Victimology. He has lectured both in Nigeria and the UK; and has taught very highly placed Senior Officials of the Nigerian Prisons Service. He is a Beneficiary of the Rotary Foundation InternationalGroup Study Exchange Programme to California, District 5230 USA (2002); and an Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Delegate to the Model United Nations Congress in New York, USA (2003). He holds BSc Psychology (University of Nigeria, Nsukka); MSc Criminology (University of Leicester, UK) andPhD Restorative Justice & Victimology at the Centre for Community and Criminal Justice, De-Montfort University Leicester, England, UK. He is internationally published, and has presented academic papers on Restorative Justice and Victimology at international conferences in the UK, USA, Canada, The Hague,Netherlands; South Africa and Addis Ababa. He is also Facilitator to Dispute Resolution Associates, Asokoro-Abuja on the National Strategic Workshops on Fast Track Trials, and Non-Custodial options; and International Adviser to Restorative Justice Initiative Midland, UK. He is a member of the British society of criminology, London;member of the International Institute of Restorative Practices, Pennsylvania, USA; member of the Restorative Justice International, and member of the World Society of Victimology.