Achievements and Challenges with Embedding Restorative Justice in Higher Education: Lessons from Institutional Experiences

Restorative justice (RJ) has gained increasing attention in criminal justice education as well as within higher education as an alternative to punitive disciplinary approaches and a framework for fostering relational and inclusive academic communities. However, less is known about how RJ is experienced, sustained, and pedagogically enacted within criminal justice education contexts. Drawing on qualitative data from 68 higher education institutions internationally, this study examines the perceived achievements and challenges associated with embedding RJ across teaching, student conduct, and staff development. Using reflexive thematic analysis supported by ATLAS.ti, the study identifies two interrelated themes. First, participants reported a range of achievements through which RJ supported relational learning, student engagement, and the development of dialogic and accountable academic cultures. Second, the analysis highlights persistent challenges that constrain sustainability, including resource scarcity, implementation discontinuity, cultural and epistemological tensions, limited student engagement, and institutional risk aversion in complex cases. These challenges function as pedagogical constraints, shaping the conditions under which restorative principles are modeled and enacted. Overall, the findings suggest that RJ in higher education operates as a paradoxical project, whose transformative potential depends on coherence between relational values and structural commitments. For criminal justice education, the study underscores the importance of embedding restorative practices within everyday learning environments and professional socialization, rather than treating RJ as a peripheral or symbolic intervention.