This book addresses the role of victims in our criminal justice system and the shortcomings they perceive in the way they are treated. It examines whether restorative justice can offer them more justice than they receive from the formal court-based system. Research into the shortcomings of the court-based system has identified a number of issues that victims want to address. In brief, they want a less formal process where their views count, more information about both the processing and the outcome of their case, a greater opportunity for participation in the way their case is dealt with, fairer and more respectful treatment, and emotional as well as material restoration as an outcome. Over the past three decades, the victim movement worldwide has agitated for an enhanced role for victims in criminal justice. Despite some successes, it appears that structural as well as political factors may mean that victims have won as much as they are likely to gain from formal justice. A series of randomized controlled trials in Canberra, known as the Reintegrative Shaming Experiments (RISE), has provided an opportunity to compare rigorously the impact on victims of court-based justice with a r Table of Contents 1. The Victim in Criminal Justice 2. Victims of Crime and the Victim Movement 3. The Theory and Practice of Restorative Justice 4. The Reintegrative Shaming Experiments: Research Design and Methodology 5. The Lived Experience of Victims: How Restorative Justice Worked in Canberra 6. Victim Satisfaction with the Restorative Alternative 7. Victims and Offenders: A Relational Analysis 8. Conclusion