Restorative justice in its purest form is an informal approach to the criminal law that focuses on ways to repair social relationships disrupted by crime. It tries to hold offenders accountable through both shaming and reintegration processes in hopes of strengthening community bonds and providing victims with an opportunity to regain their personal power. It is not yet clear whether restorative justice will prove to be the progressive reform that liberals believe it is. First, the risk exists that restorative justice programs will be corrupted to serve nonprogressive goals and thus do more harm than good. Second, restorative justice programs are unlikely to have a meaningful effect on recidivism, based on current knowledge about changing offender behavior. Thus, restorative justice should be regarded and implemented with caution; its proponents should not oversell this intervention or overlook its potential problems. A alternative approach would be to explore bringing together the ideals of restorative justice and rehabilitation so that rehabilitation were regarded as part of a process that held offenders accountable and tried to restore victims. 87 references (Author abstract modified)