ABSTRACT. Restorative justice is emerging as an increasingly viable approach to criminal law around the world. Unlike traditional theories of justice – Kantian justice and utilitarian efficiency – restorative justice focuses on the private rather than the public effects of crime. This paper argues that this difference in focus can be traced to the various theories’ conceptions of human nature and subjectivity. Each of the traditional theories, though differing in detail, relies on a conception that is universal, transcendental, and abstract. Restorativists, on the other hand, embrace an understanding of subjectivity that is more akin to the thought of Michel Foucault – an understanding of the individual as a locus of cultural, social, economic, and historical relationships. Restorativism, as seen through a Foucauldean lens, offers an intriguing augmentation of the dominant theories of justice and may serve as a jumping-off point for a more dynamic, agile, and vital approach to the practice of law. (pp. 115–162)