I had been a children’s rights lawyer, working regularly with victimized children, when I decided to examine the appropriateness of restorative justice as an alternative to the criminal process for child victims. I was led by frustration with the formal court process and its inability to address the needs and views of my young clients. Th ese victims, and oft en their families, felt they were being unheard, disrespected, and lost in the system — despite some far-reaching laws protecting child victims and witnesses from the hassles of the court process. Victims I represented and their families did not experience closure, nor did they feel that “justice was done.” It was not revenge they wanted, but rather the opportunity to tell their story and to let their off enders know what harm they had caused. Th ey also wanted professionals to take them seriously and consider their views. Lacking any real solutions, I oft en could only comfort them and refer them to treatment. Beyond my frustration with the criminal process, my work as a children’s advocate also taught me the degree to which children of all ages want and are able to take part in decision-making processes in matt ers regarding their lives. Parents and professionals are so focused on protecting children from harm (a novel goal in itself) that they sometimes forget to treat them as individuals with distinct wishes, strengths, and viewpoints. At the same time I oft en encountered the limitations of a strictly rightsbased approach, which might suit lawyers but does not necessarily promote the interests of children. I was searching for something more complete than rights terminology but stronger than children’s needs. Aft er having spent months reading through the psychology and sociology literature, I realized that there were many links between the needs of victimized children and their human rights, and I began making these links more explicit. One of the major problems in the fi eld of childhood victimization is the fact that diff erent professions do not really communicate with each other. For instance, the psychological literature on control is invaluably rich, and so is the legal and criminological literature on victims’ participation rights. However, it is very diffi cult to fi nd studies on the eff ects of participation in the criminal process on children’s sense of control.