Samenvatting

This article aims at grounding and defining the role of volunteers in restorative justice practices. It starts from the observation that processes of institutionalization tend to make the role of volunteering citizens in restorative justice programmes doubtful and superfluous. These doubts are strengthened by the fact that the link between restorative justice values and the importance of working with volunteers is too easily assumed. Can we offer some well-founded arguments to back up this assumption and to outline what key roles volunteers can play? Several conceptions of restorative justice might be explored. This contribution examines the maximalist view, as developed by Lode Walgrave in his latest book Restorative Justice, Self-interest and Responsible Citizenship. The article critically asks if and how his conception demands an active role for volunteers within restorative justice practices. The paper develops its arguments on the basis of three key concepts in Walgraves model: (1) his definition of restorative justice; (2) his notion of crime; and (3) his socio-ethical intuition of common self-interest.