The Concept of Restorative Justice

Restorative justice is based on the principle that criminal behavior injures not only the victim but also the community and the offender, and any effort to resolve these problems caused by criminal behavior should involve all of these parties. Common restorative justice initiatives are victim-offender mediation, circle sentencing, community holistic healing programs, and family group conferences. A key to all these responses to criminal behavior is to address not only the offender, but all parties involved including the victim and their families, offender's family, community citizens, and even the police officers themselves.

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

Restorative justice is a very complex process in the justice system. It is a positive program that helps in the aid of victims of crimes. The process for restorative justice is broken down into steps which map out how the process should take place. According to Johnstone, “Restorative justice is the theory that justice aids the victim and emphasizes the repair of harm caused by unjust or harmful behavior.” In my opinion the restorative justice process is a great accomplishment to the justice system. Restorative justice does not always work as intended but the theory of which it is intended for is enough to be improved upon.

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

To encourage, inspire, and to help others along with myself to achieve inner peace and to be able to settle differences peacefully among family, friends, and the community.

The purpose of this paper is to describe how restorative justice can benefit school districts by helping them change the behavior of students who fail to comply with school rules and policies. Educational institutions that rely less on suspension or expulsion and more on methods that teach children how to understand their actions and how they impact others can have a positive difference in their lives as well as the people close to them. I believe that restorative justice can be used in a similarly to the way probation is offered to adults that are guilty of perpetrating a crime and are less likely to offend again.

The restorative justice movement emerged in the 1970s in Canada. However, some of its key principles were already in place. At one point in history, crimes were not seen against the state. Instead, it was up to the victim and/or their family to seek reparation from the offender. This approach was very victim-centered, but this changed as crimes began to be seen as crimes against the state as well. This made the justice system more offender-centered. People began getting together and formed a general consensus that victims deserved the same rights as the offender. This is how the restorative justice model began. The movement was based on the belief that we should not be solely focused on punishing the offender or trying to pit the defendant

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.

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

Societies throughout history have always tried to service punishment or retribution over those that are considered delinquents or criminals in their society. The societies in the industrialized world have seen several transformations in their mission to achieve this level of discipline. Vast portions of the population have become very disenfranchised with their criminal justice system has meant that in recent years, and mostly since the 60 's, a main theme in exertion of control over societies deviants has been a state-sponsored attempt to rehabilitate criminal populations. In the face of steadily

Within the system of criminal justice, the restorative justice conferences allow the offenders, victims and their respective family members and friends to come together to explore how those involved in the incident had been affected and, when possible, to decide how to repair the harm and meet their own needs. A victim can request a restorative justice approach to help an offender comprehend and understand how the crime has affected their life, and/or other people's lives in the process, to gain information, helping put the crime behind them and aiming to come to terms/forget their experience and personal ordeal and to openly forgive the offender for their actions. Restorative Justice also aids offenders, with trials within the United Kingdom

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).

When considering studies in corrections on a global scale it is important to understand how to utilize the most applicable method to gather knowledge. Comparative studies are often used to explore methods for explicating or developing knowledge and attitudes. Comparative research examines cases with the intention to reveal the structure and invariance or unchanging relationship for an entire group or population. In this case, and for the purpose of this paper, the comparative research is suggested to be used in corrections on a global scale. Several problems arise when using comparative research studies on a global scale. Some of these issues are cross-cultural research between countries, selecting a compatible research design whether