Restorative Justice : The Justice System

While many conservatives oppose the rehabilitative measures restorative justice offers offenders and demand more prisons and penalties, advocates for restorative justice counter this demand with research. Restorative justice advocates call for restitution rather than retribution. According to promoters for restorative justice, imposing harsh penalties on offenders and lengthening prison sentences is futile. “Critical theorists argue that the ‘old methods’ of punishment are a failure and that upwards of two-thirds of all prison inmates recidivate soon after their release” (Siegel, 2008, p. 188). While conservatives want to build more prisons and lock away more offenders for longer terms, supporters of restorative justice believe that a more rehabilitative approach is beneficial for not only the offender, but also the community. “The offender is asked to recognize that he or she caused injury to personal and social relations along with a determination and acceptance of responsibility. Only then can the offender be restored as a productive member of society” (Siegel, 2008, p. 190). Placing an offender in prison for any amount of time is shown to be harmful to the offender, their victim, and society. “Rather than reduce recidivism, harsher punishments may increase the likelihood of reoffending” (Siegel, 2008, p. 86). A conservative asking for more prisons would likely be met with a barrage of evidence explaining why restorative justice will and

Finding a new way to deal with criminal issues for young adults is very rare, especialy in a predomenatly impoverished area. So to be a part of the Restorative Justice Research team was an honor, also very insightful. At first I knew only a brief description about restorative justice being used in a way of restoring small issues not applying it to a more serious incidents such as criminal justice. I looked at it as harm causing problems were as justice repairs a partial amount of the problem. For this project however, it was way more than just rebuilding but a way to bring justice in a creative way that can not only benefit people who have done crimes but help repair community thoughts and views in the process.

There was a 19 year old who was driving a stolen car and lost control. When he lost control he killed four people and was sentenced for 47 years in jail. This offender didn’t have a good example to follow while he was growing up. His dad abended him when he was young and was left to be raised by him mom who was an extreme alcoholic (Pope 2011). This is an example the restorative prisons would really help someone who never got proper information growing up on how to behave and things he can do and things he can’t. The restorative prisons would help someone like him by not locking him up for a number of years. This helps the perpetrator because they have more opportunities while in the restorative prison that will help them once they can leave. At the restorative prisons everyone helps out around the building including the perpetrators and that can help them feel better about themselves because they are doing something useful. Also at these prisons the perpetrators are allowed to leave for work as long as they are back by a certain time which also give them more opportunities to make their life better. Some of these prisons also offer training for the perpetrators so they are exposed to more options. Restorative justice ways look into

In order to change the criminal justice and decrease the number of crimes, restorative justice should be used a new developmental

There are four core principles of restorative justice. Firstly the crime must violate people and relationships. Restorative justice does not only view crimes as law breaking, rather the justice views it as damaging to people, their properties, relationships, and communities. Secondly, justice aims to identify needs and obligations so that things

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.

Indeed, despite restorative justice, the traditional criminal justice system for the most part, will remain unchanged for a number of reasons. First, the restorative justice process is too complex. It is not as simple as bringing together the prosecutor and defense attorney to discuss a plea; but rather involves a number of parties, as mentioned above, who may or may not trust each other, let alone want to have intense and personal conversations with them. Even in as case such as the Ann Grosmaire, it took substantial time and effort. If restorative justice was extended to all cases, there would not be enough time to do anything else. Second, the American public, at this time, is not prepared to accept an across-the-board availability of restorative justice to offenders. As was made clear in the Ann Grosmaire case, many Americans have a tendency to support “tough on crime” policies necessarily means that restorative justice will not become a common option in criminal cases (Beale, 2003). However, as mentioned, restorative justice provides an effective dispute resolution mechanism for certain types of crimes such as theft, computer crimes, some assaults, that can be more effectively and quickly resolved without going through the criminal justice process. In these cases, perhaps the victim simply wants his property back and the offender needs to understand that his actions were wrong. Accordingly, restorative justice under these circumstances could be disruptive. It might also be transformative after punishment has already been imposed as in the case of Gary Geiger (New York Times, 1994). If the victim sees that the offender is remorseful and has been punished, restorative justice could play an important part of helping the offender reintegrate into

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

Karp argues that restorative justice is a more effective system than the prevailing retributive model. Within the book it is asserted that restorative justice systems had a higher degree of satisfaction for victims than the retributive approach(page 46). In addition to the higher degree of victim satisfaction the restorative approach was also less likely to result in an appeal, with a less than one percent of cases being appealed(page 47). (MAYBE A LITTLE MORE) These are the tangible benefits when compared empirically to retributive systems, restorative approaches have other benefits as well.

With restorative justice there isn’t long drawn out trails that can last for years. This quicker and more effective way of handling certain crimes will lower costs across the board. One of the largest problems in the criminal justice system is how understaffed it is. By sending more and more people to jail from minor to major offenses, the more staff will be needed, and therefor continuing the cycle. The jails and prisons are understaffed partially due to the lack of funding.

There are already existing restorative practices that are place within the conventional criminal justice system at present namely probation, restitution and community service (Zehr, 1990). Admittedly they are not readily termed restorative justice programs however they are grounded in its theory.

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.

How many inmates were isolated from their communities when they had committed a crime or when they got released from the prisons? And how many effective programs can be helpful for them?Many posts-release prisoners have experienced recidivism and social stigmas due to lack of programs. In fact, restorative justice for people in prison has played a big role in our correctional systems in many different ways.Restorative justice in prison shapes our prisoner 's morals and abilities by providing a suitable technique. Although punishment may play a part in restorative justice techniques, the central focus remains on relationships between the affected parties, and healing reached through a deliberative process guided by those affected parties.( Tsui,2014). For instance, many inmates have attended into reentry programs and educational orientations when they finished their time in prison. These programs cost less money for the government, and inmates can be reintegrated into societies easily. Many post-release prisoners have avoided recidivism after these effective programs taught them the value of lives. This study will examine the importance of restorative justice in prison, which is essential for our correctional facilities. Numerous studies have been done recently which focused on this restorative justice.For example, restorative justice answers the justice question in a different way.(Toews,p.5,2006).

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