Literature Review Retributive Justice: The Case of Justin Wolfe

While The Little Book of Restorative Justice for Colleges and Universities has many merits it also posses some off-putting weaknesses. Karp opens his work up for criticism and makes it less likely to be accepted or seen as a serious alternative to the traditional disciplinary systems with the inclusion of frivolous illustrations and talks of the spiritual. The Little Book also lacks much evidence outside of personal testimony or the authors own reasoning —while that can be strong evidence, empirical evidence have a place in this discussion.

In the book Eligible for Execution: The Story of the Daryl Atkins Case, the author Thomas G. Walker, a Professor of Political Science at Emory University provides a thought provoking analysis of the case Atkins vs. the commonwealth of Virginia. Walker has written his book is such a way that piques his reader’s interest and grabs the attention. He begins with a basic detailed summary of the case at hand, the murder of Eric Michael Nesbitt. The defendant, Daryl Renard Atkins is described as a body-abled young man who unfortunately did not have an opportunity to experience a close family relationship. His parents divorced at the age of 9 which acted as a milestone in his life. He struggled to complete his school and struggled with maintaining

Julie Hilt is the executive director of the Solano County Bar Association. Julie realized that Solano County didn’t have a restorative justice program. Julie realizes this program is new to Solano County and hope the program is supported in the community. Julie states the purpose of the restorative justice program in Solano County focus is to restore the community and promote healing after a crime; the process has additional benefits, such as increased restitution for victims, greater satisfaction with the system and potentially lower recidivism. Julie believes the restorative justice program is designed to teach the offender to be accountable for their wrong doings. Julie says the practices of the program are allowing the victim(s) who is willing the opportunity to come forward and participate in a face to face meeting with offenders.

Restorative Justice Annotated Bibliography 1. Clamp, Kerry, ed. Restorative justice in transitional settings. Routledge, 2016.

Restorative justice is a system of criminal justice that emphasizes the rehabilitation of offenders through mending ties with the victims and the community. A better explanation of restorative justice is a theory of justice that emphasizes repairing the harm caused by criminal behavior. It is best accomplished through cooperative processes that include everyone involved. This can lead to transformation of people, relationships and communities.

It has been three years since James Holmes entered a theatre in Aurora, Colorado and began firing at every person in the theatre. The theatre was showing a debut for “The Dark Knight Rises” when Holmes entered wearing head-to-toe gear and a gas mask. This story rattled the nation as it made movie theatres a thing to fear. Now, three years later, it has been announced that Holmes will spend life in prison (Pearson, 2012). The process of restorative justice was not used in the case itself, but examples of restoration can be seen in areas surrounding the case.

I obtained my associates degree in psychology and when I started Walden for my bachelor’s that was also in psychology, however after taking a few criminal justice classes as my concentration I liked it so much I switched my major, so explaining criminal justice to people is not new to me as many people want to know why I switched and what the difference is.

I watched a video on youtube based on a restorative justice conference which is an example of restorative justice. The video was actors, that was fed actual victims and offenders words, during a particular conference. The conference started as any traditional restorative justice conference would, everyone se in a circle, and was told to give the name that they wish to be addressed as. After, the name introduction the facilitator set the ground rules, such as no verbal abuse, or curse words etc. Next, the offender a woman who burglarized the victim home, was allowed to tell her side, as to why she broke into the victims home. Once the offender shared her story, a sign of relief appeared across the victims face. The victim then proceeded to state

America has long taken pride in being a nation of idealism and of freedom. Still, while these values have remained constant, other areas of the American mindset have evolved repeatedly over the brief course of America’s history. Nothing could illustrate this change more than the complex, developing, relationship between American citizens and their criminal justice system. Each era of American history shows the mindset of its time through the courts. From the extreme Puritans, and their deeply spiritual, irrational cases, to the politically charged events of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and forward into the hodgepodge of contemporary justice, one can read the American conscience by examining the criminal cases at its forefront.

Hey Ralph, get job on the discussion! You did a great job explaining what restorative justice is and who it affects. I agree that restorative justice should be within the school system since, like you said, can teach students a better and more profound lesson and not just suspending them because they have to. You also bring up a good point about restorative justice used with other sanctions, if they do not feel satisfied after using restorative justice maybe they should use other sanctions so the victim can be satisfied with the result. I too agree that restorative justice can do a lot of good to all of the people involved with the situation at hand. With prison bound offenders, I believe it's the crime the offender committed, but also if

Solution-Focused Brief Therapy and restorative justice share similar components. Both are forward planning and goal driven. They rely on the use of strength-based language. The focus is placed on relationship building rather than being paternalistic & adversarial. Both approaches view the person or offender as an empowered individual who is capable of solving their own problems as opposed to being told how to change.

The criminal justice system views any crime as a crime committed against the state and places much emphasis on retribution and paying back to the community, through time, fines or community work. Historically punishment has been a very public affair, which was once a key aspect of the punishment process, through the use of the stocks, dunking chair, pillory, and hangman’s noose, although in today’s society punishment has become a lot more private (Newburn, 2007). However it has been argued that although the debt against the state has been paid, the victim of the crime has been left with no legal input to seek adequate retribution from the offender, leaving the victim perhaps feeling unsatisfied with the criminal justice process.

Retributive justice, described in its literal sense, is a criminal justice system based on punishing the offenders rather than rehabilitating them. This is a quality often seem within Victorian literature, considered to be the “socially acceptable ending”. The villains are imprisoned or die, often left to be suffering alone; the hero is rewarded with wealth and happiness. It gives the reader an impression of cosmic justice; everything will work out if you are a good person. This is comforting for a person who believes that they are a good person, regardless of whether or not they are in reality. For the Victorian time period, where people highly valued strong morals -- and which women were often considered the backbone for -- an ending with

Procedural justice under the theory of restorative justice will consist of a family group conference including Torres, John Geer’s father, mother, daughters, and Maura Harrington. The purpose of the conference is not to mediate or moderate a discussion between the two sides (Zehr, 2002). Rather, the purpose of a restorative conference between Torres and Geer family is to create an opportunity for the Geer family to directly tell the Torres how John Geer’s death personally affected them (Newmark, 2017c). Alternatively, Torres has the to agree to repair the damage he caused to the Geer family and rehabilitate himself. Therefore, it is imperative that Torres first admits guilt and takes responsibility for the shooting death of John Geer before

This paper will focus on retributive justice and restorative justice. Let’s begin with the definition of each. Retributive justice is a theory of justice that considers that punishment, if proportionate, is a morally acceptable response to crime. On the other hand, restorative justice is the opposite. It is a theory of justice that focuses on the needs of the victims and the offenders. So which of these should be morally right?