Summary
"This thesis aims to respond to the question raised by a recent Nova Scotia Human Rights Board of Inquiry: could restorative justice offer more comprehensive and responsive outcomes than the present public complaints process of the Halifax Regional Police? As community policing theories have noted, the police and their communities are in a sensitive and important relationship. This relationship can be deeply harmed by police wrongdoing. Restorative justice, understood as a theory of justice which aims to restore relationships, could enable an exploration of contextual and systemic issues underlying allegations of police wrongdoing, and could address the associated relational breakdowns between the police and the public. Drawing upon the comprehensive Nova Scotia restorative justice program model, this thesis identifies opportunities and limitations within, and proposes modifications to, present frameworks for complaints against the Halifax Regional Police to allow for restorative justice processes - restoring relationships damaged by police wrongdoing."--Abstract.