'Restorative justice' presented as option for offenses

Could restorative justice - also known as victim/offender mediation - work as an option for punishment of low-level crimes? The Texas Public Policy Foundation's recent report "Reviving Restorative Justice: A Blueprint for Texas"suggests yes. Derek Cohen explains and discusses the reasoning behind an approach that emphasizes the offender's debt to the victim rather than the offender's debt to the state.