Restorative services can develop from the bottom-up, as community-led schemes, or from the top-down, as institutionally or organisationally-led programmes. This paper examines the challenges both types of service face, drawing on interviews with practitioners, service commissioners, and academics working across England, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, and Sierra Leone. The findings suggest that restorative projects face significant challenges: bottom-up projects often lack the resources that come with institutional recognition and may struggle to achieve the acceptance and integration into other state services. If they do achieve this integration, they risk alienating the communities from which they emerged. Top-down projects may enjoy greater funding security and have the benefit of institutional acceptance, but often struggle to engage community members because they lack the on-the-ground legitimacy. Overall, we find that both are important; both fill a ‘space’ of need, and both contribute to the continued development and integration of restorative work.

恢复性服务可以自下而上发展为社区主导的计划，也可以自上而下发展为机构或组织主导的计划。本文通过对在英格兰、北爱尔兰、爱尔兰共和国和塞拉利昂工作的从业者、服务专员和学者的采访，探讨了这两种服务面临的挑战。调查结果表明，恢复性项目面临重大挑战：自下而上的项目通常缺乏机构认可所带来的资源，并且可能难以实现对其他国家服务的接受和整合。如果他们确实实现了这种融合，他们就有可能疏远他们所在的社区。自上而下的项目可能享有更大的资金保障，并有利于机构接受，但往往难以吸引社区成员，因为他们缺乏实地合法性。总的来说，我们发现两者都很重要。两者都填补了需求的“空间”，都有助于修复工作的持续发展和整合。