Waves of Healing by Theo Gavrielides raises a topic of great interest to those concerned with the potential contribution of restorative justice to the improvement of civil society, especially during this economically and politically turbulent period in history. As noted by Dr. Gavrielides (2012), the vast majority of restorative justice scholarship has focused on applications in interpersonal crime between a limited number of direct stakeholders. Research suggests that it is the direct and personal nature of the restorative justice encounter that allows for the emotional healing experience when crime is seen as harm done to people and relationships and not only as offenses against the state or public order (Abramson & Moore, 2002; Masters, 1997a; Masters, 1997b; McCold, 1999; McCold & Wachtel, 2003; Pennell & Burford, 1994; Zehr, 2002).
 
However, large scale group violence presents an obvious challenge to restorative justice proponents, namely, what sort of direct and personal process could possibly encompass the sweeping scope of interpersonal harm that occurs during events such as the UK riots of August 2011, or the politically charged street actions in Greece over recent years?