The paradigm of restorative justice seeks to repair harm, increase accountability and further opportunities for rehabilitation. Central to understanding this paradigm is an awareness of the roles and responsibilities of stakeholders in the response to criminal behaviour. These can include victims, offenders and the community. Within restorative discourse, the conceptualization of community has remained vaguely defined. Theoretically, a general consensus exists that community is an important factor within a successful restorative process. Within the Irish adult reparation panel models, based in Dublin, Tipperary and surrounding counties, the concept of community is continually put forward as an important component in attempting to reintegrate and rehabilitate participating offenders. There is, however, little theoretical and practical consensus on what the community concept actually represents. Such confusion has the potential to both dilute underlying restorative values and undermine reparation panel goals. Based on an in-depth empirical analysis of both reparation panel models, this thesis focuses on these issues by evaluating the restorative practices and principles operating within the reparation model. It also attempts to clearly identify the theoretical and practical elements within the reparation panel community. It will be argued that a practical community can be identified through geographical community service providers, and volunteer and lay member participation. A newly proposed theoretical ‘community of care, concern and accountability’ will also be introduced within which welfare and social need concerns are combined with an emphasis on repairing the harm caused. Such a community can ultimately improve opportunities for a non-recidivist future. In addressing these research issues, this thesis adds a valuable contribution to the wider literature on restorative justice and the role of the concept of community and contribution of community members within those processes and principles.