The figure of the facilitator of restorative circles: a scope review

Abstract

The present study is linked to the research “The effectiveness of the restorative circles of the childhood and youth center of the Caxias da Paz program”, financed by theUniversity of Caxias do Sul (UCS) and by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq). This work is a literature scope review, still in progress, with the main objective of verifying how the figure of the facilitator of restorative circles appears in the scientific literature. The search strategy was carried out from the Portal de Periódicos da Capes (in March 2023), with no time limits, focused on peer-reviewed articles, with five different combinations of the keywords “facilitator”, “restorative circles” and “restorative justice”. Preliminary results point to the lack of articles that have dealt with the figure of the facilitator in an integral way, as they appear only in studies about restorative circles or restorative justice, and restorative facilitators are mentioned. The preliminary analysis of the 42 articles that were selected by screening is still ongoing, but it is already possible to identify some results, such as little discussion about the role of facilitators, with some articles advancing on ways of evaluating the role of the facilitator in cases conflicting.