Promoting Inmates’ Positive Attitudes toward Participating in a Restorative Justice Process: The Effects of a Victim Awareness Process

In the present study, we conducted an empirical experiment to examine whether exposure to a victim awareness procedure would affect inmates’ attitudes toward participating in a restorative-justice process. In addition, the study sought to evaluate whether there are differences between inmates serving their sentences in prisons with different therapeutic orientations. The findings indicate that participants who were exposed to a victim awareness procedure were more aware of the harm caused to the victim and showed a higher level of positive attitudes toward participating in restorative-justice process than those who were not. Contrary to our hypothesis, no differences were found between the prisons.