Restorative Justice And The Justice Centres

During the 1990s, the emphasis and development of restorative justice perhaps reached its summit when both the federal government and the RCMP outwardly problematized conventional justice on the one hand, while they “championed” restorative justice on the other. Victims have generally expressed their satisfaction after participating in restorative justice programs. Moreover, while conventional justice has been plagued by significant reoffending rates, many scholars have found that restorative programs demonstrate success in this regard. Thus, we essentially have a failed experiment by Canada's leading and national police force on the one hand, but widespread academic support for restorative justice both in Canada and internationally on the

Restorative justice (RJ) is the practice of trying to restore the victims of harm or trauma back to a state of peace and contentment. It is used to benefit the victims so they can in a way reclaim a part of themselves. Restorative justice has three main models/practices; Victim Offender Conferencing (VOC), Circle Processes, and Family Group Conferences. Victim offender conferencing is the most common application of restorative justice in North America. In, The Little Book of Victim Offender Conferencing, Lorraine Stutzman Amstutz explains, “the victim offender conferencing process brings victims and offenders of crime together in a face-to-face meeting prepared and led by a trained facilitator, often a community volunteer, to talk about the impact of the consequences of the crime.”

In the utilitarian justice system of America, the idea of restorative justice is far-fetched. American culture is tainted by the mentality of revenge, and this is the reason why most crimes are met with severe punishment. Restorative justice tries to examine how “formal criminal justice processing” effects the victim and the offender (Braswell et al., 2015). According to broadcast and print journalist Molly Rowan Leach, most people feel that this type of justice tries to force the victim to forgive the offender, but this is not its main premise (Leach, 2013). The purpose of restorative justice is to compensate for the suffering of the victim, and punish the offender in a way that makes them aware of their mistake so that they

A key aspect of restorative justice lies in the offender apologizing for the crime and members

The United States of America, long ago, founded a disciplinary system that was to keep law abiding citizens safe. Those who broke the law were to be adequately punished and reformed, so that when criminals were done serving time, they would be ready to become contributing members of society. Mandatory minimum sentences, high prison return rates, and overworked and underfunded public defenders are just some of the issues that plague the Criminal Justice System. It is astounding that an alternative has not been sought.Restorative justice, or Circle justice is a discipline system that involves mediation, honest speaking, and healing. It gets all parties to share their experiences thoughts and feelings to address what happened in the inciting

Restorative justice is becoming more popular as the guideposts to effective corrections policy, both sides prisons and within the wider community. The philosophy is based on the traditional practices of indigenous cultures around the world. Criminal behaviour is primarily caused by the alienation of certain members from society at large. Everyone is an equal member of society and has a contribution to make the greater good. When a person becomes alienated or disconnected from that society , everyone in that society is responsible to bring that person back into a harmonious relationship with him/her “self” as well as the rest of the community.

Throughout this paper, various articles will be discussed in further detail on the issue of restorative justice within the criminal justice system in the United States. Both benefits and disadvantages of restorative justice will be analyzed, in order to have a greater understanding of the alternative justice program, and to remove any preconceived ideas unsubstantiated by facts. Focus will be on topics such as what restorative justice is, followed by how it reduces the number of suspensions and disciplinary actions required by schools to manage offenders. These programs in schools give students various life skills needed to solve and manage problems rather than resorting to violence and crime. It will also be noted how there are those who dispute that restorative justice as a powerless alternative in which change is never achieved. Additionally, successful programs currently in place will be examined, which will shed light on both sides of the spectrum, to allow one to make an educated decision on whether or not the program is an effective and necessary one or not.

Restorative justice is a comparative newcomer to the world of criminal justice; however restorative justice has been around, ‘officially’- by means of legislation for 14 years, and unofficially (in innovative practice), for longer. The knowledge and skills associated with restorative justice have slowly but surely migrated to other services, such as education, with startling results (Daniels, 2013). With the criminal justice system being so unfair and bias for years maybe even centuries, restorative justice has been bought up as a useful tool for victims and offenders. Plenty of scholarly articles, journals, books, and research have been written about Restorative Justice.

There are two forms of justice that the American society has come to know today. One is the traditional justice system and the other is restorative justice. The first half of this paper will provide an overview of how justice is achieved using the traditional due process system of our criminal justice system. Specifically, I will assess each step of due process, pointing out the possible outcomes of how justice is traditionally attained. I will also provide several examples of how the system has successfully delivered justice to both the offender and the victim(s).

To What Extent Should Restorative Justice be incorporated within the Criminal Justice System in England and Wales? (2500 words)

In the contemporary criminal system, there would have been a different outcome and the process involved. The contemporary system would have taken the statement from the victim and pursued the people responsible. Once they located the people responsible, they

Our book states that, “rather than punish law violators harshly and make them outcasts of society, peacemakers look for ways to bring them back to the community. This peacemaking movement has adopted methods and applied them to what is known as restorative justice” (Siegel, 284). Howard Zehr, a leading restorative justice scholar, believed that society needs to “address the victims’ harms and needs, hold offenders accountable to put right those harms, and involve victims, offenders, and communities in the process of healing” (Siegel, 284).

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.

Restorative justice has some key restorative values that are vital in the restorative justice conference to make the experience ‘restorative’. Concerning addressing victim needs and concerns means for listening, respecting, being non-judgmental, not blaming the victim and apologizing. The RJ system was bought as an alternative to the criminal justice system to give greater emphasis on victim rights and needs, offender accountability and community involvement. Throughout the essay, there will be an insight into how Restorative Justice addresses needs of victims in terms of the different proponents such as Information provided to victim, restitution/compensation, emotional and practical needs met, participation and involvement of victim and protection of victim, which (Wemmers and Marisa, 2002) as essentials to victims participating in the practice. The two countries that will be addressed will have had restorative justice built out of injustices and over-representation of the current criminal justice system to the indigenous peoples of those countries.

The perception by many involved in the justice system in general, and youth justice in particular, is that the present model of punitive retributive justice, often involving incarceration does not work. Indeed, it may be compounding an already huge social problem. This realisation has lead many to look for alternative systems. At present there is a considerable momentum building that advocates the use of a restorative justice model. Marshall has defined restorative justice as a process whereby parties with a stake in a specific offence collectively resolve how to deal with the aftermath of