Informed consent may be unobtainable in online contexts. This article examines the difficulties of obtaining informed consent online through a Facebook case study. It is proposed that there are at least two ways informed consent could be waived in research: first, if the data are public, and second, if the data are textual. Accordingly, the publicness of the Facebook News Feed is considered. Taking account of the wide availability of Facebook users' data, and reflecting on how public those users perceive their information to be, this paper argues that some Facebook data are properly viewed as public to semi-public in nature. A second issue is whether the Facebook News Feed data collection ought to be classified as document-based or human subjects research. Since the Facebook News Feed involves social interaction that may elicit 'ethically important moments', this paper proposes that observing it may constitute human subjects research. While informed consent is desirable for human subjects research, it is suggested that Facebook News Feed observations are comparable to observational research in a public space, and thus waiving informed consent in this online setting could be justifiable.

Communication is universal to human beings, regardless of gender, ethnicity, class, sexuality, disability and so forth. But though communication is a shared capacity, individuals and groups communicate in diverse ways. This study investigates how specifically social class influences participation in scripted restorative justice by affecting how participants communicate. Data from an ethnographic study indicate that restorative justice implementation is not class-neutral because it appears to privilege middle-class forms of communication, and participants from middle-class backgrounds may therefore be more powerfully positioned in restorative justice processes than participants from less advantaged backgrounds. To show this, a comparative methodology is adopted, which involves ethnographic observation and critical discussion of two contrasting restorative justice conferences. The implications of class-based linguistic disadvantage for restorative justice theory are subsequently discussed. The author recommends that restorative justice commits itself to an equality of opportunity which allows stakeholders to participate fully irrespective of their class background.

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This article examines whether and how ‘street culture’ affects offender communication and reception in restorative justice. Drawing on an archival dataset of police-led restorative justice conferences, we analysed the relationship between street cultural capital and offenders’ ability to communicate during restorative justice. We explored how offenders’ social background, measured by street cultural capital, and/or communication abilities affect third-party perceptions of offender sincerity and their likelihood to reoffend. Results indicate that the embodiment of street cultural capital may affect offender participation in restorative justice. Socioeconomically disadvantaged offenders appeared more likely to experience communication difficulties, and were less likely to be perceived by third parties as sincere or willing to desist from offending. These findings are considered within a theoretical framework that draws on Bourdieu’s concept of cultural capital, Skeggs’ notion of inscription and Loftus’ research on ‘attitude tests’.