Restorative justice circles or conferences have shown considerable promise
in the criminal justice system as a more decent and effective way of dealin
g with youthful law breaking than punishment. The social movement for resto
rative justice has a distinctive analysis of the crisis of community and th
e possibility of community in late modernity. This paper raises the questio
n of whether this approach might fruitfully be applied to the holistic deve
lopment of the learning potential of the young and the whole range of probl
ems young people encounter-drug abuse, unemployment, homelessness, suicide,
among others-in the transition from school to work.