The Restorative Justice Approach Share Three Goals

To address the increasing recidivism rate among offenders in the juvenile and adult criminal justice system, comprehensive restorative justice programs should expand to a much wider faction of the United States criminal justice system. Programs should be implemented on federal, state, and local levels to effectively and efficiently achieve this goal. The goals that should be strived for must be kept in mind so that adequate progress can be made and so that benchmarks will be met when required. Administrators must not let their restorative justice system fall behind to the point of no return, as many would argue that the current system of criminal justice has. This paper will focus on the requirements for proper management and administration of the proposed solution. The requirements include the skills needed for effective management of the proposal, identifying poor managerial skills and the ways to improve those skills, the necessity of benchmarks and milestones, and reasons that may delay proper implementation.

I think that restorative justice programs are a great way to have offenders take responsibility for what they have done and their actions in the future. I feel that it truly helps the victim and the offender heal. Alternative sentencing is also a great way to deal with offenders because it may help them before they go into the prison system. If I were a victim I know I would be hesitant to meet with my offender but I now know that ultimately, it will help me and the offender. I would try to sit face-to-face with them. The benefits would be to get some degree of closure and to help the victims overcome all the fears the offender gave them. Some risks may be losing control or being overcome with anger when they see the offender. Overall I believe

Restorative justice is typically used in cases like burglaries and robberies. It helps not only the offender and the community, but the victim as well. The reasoning behind using restorative justice is to focus more on the rehabilitation side through reconciliation with all of those who were involved. I agree with restorative justice and what it stands for. Mandatory sentencing is not always the best way to punish someone for their crimes.

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

Restorative justice generate an opportunity for people who have been effected by crime to talk about their experiences (Shapland, Sorsby, & Robinson,2011). Not only can this be a therapeutic process, it can also be valuable to not only the victim but the community. By hearing the stories from person that was affected by a criminal act, it helps to develop awareness of all involved, which can in turn allow many people to gain a deeper perspective into the root or origins of the crime ( Shapland at el.,2011). In addition, storytelling grows compassion among individuals who find themselves connected by wrongdoing.

Restorative justice in practice Although restorative justice works for a lot of people, it is still a relative new and unknown type of justice. Because of that, there are still some questions and limitations to remain about restorative justice. According to Daly (2006) there are 6 limitations about the concept of restorative justice: (1) There is no agreed-upon definition of restorative justice. (2) Restorative justice deal with the penalty, not the fact-finding phase of the criminal justice process. (3) It is easier to achieve fairness than restorativeness in a restorative justice process.

Restorative justice programs implemented within prison walls are important because they allow convicted felons the opportunity to take responsible for their wrongdoings and work towards reparation with their victims. In order to be completely successful, participation from the victim, offender, and support networks is encouraged. Ultimately, the main goal is for all affected parties to reach a peaceful resolution, and provide a successful closure of the negativity and move forward positively.

These reforms encompass everything from the use of solitary confinement to guidelines that prevent a youth from even entering the institutional side of juvenile justice by using community resources (E. Blaskey, personal communication, February 28, 2015). One of the most popular ideas motivating this reform is the concept of restorative justice. Restorative justice looks at accountability a bit differently from previous classic models. In the past, accountability was about the punishment matching the crime which boils down to the classic biblical thought, “an eye for an eye.” Restorative justice defines accountability as taking responsibility for your behavior and taking action to repair the harm (BARJ, 1995). Instead of completing a punishment unrelated to the victims, in restorative justice, an offender must come to terms with the outcome of their behavior to the victims and other vital stakeholders in an effort to help heal all parties.

The textbook, “Restoring Justice: an introduction to restorative justice” by Van Ness and Karen Strong provide the three key principles which govern the implementation of restorative justice found in chapter three. The first principle being that “justice requires work to heal victims, offenders and communities injured in crime” (Ness &Strong, 2015, 45). When crime takes place it not only injuries the victim but the community and the offender as well, each dealing with their personal harm experience from this event. Since all were hurt each deserves to helped and put on the path to gain healing and understanding. The second principle is “victims, offenders and communities should have the opportunity for active involvement in the justice process as early and as fully as wish” (Ness &Strong, 2015, 47). This is a big one, since the government is considered the victim they get to have involvement in the process from day one, having victims participant can help connect the gap in this

After a 15-year-old saw a snapshot video of his cousin holding a large amount of money he and four other teens made plans to rob the cousin’s home. Two of the boy’s forced their way into the house with a crowbar, however the noise woke the family dog and then the aunt woke up and confronted the teens who ran off with a laptop. The teen’s ages ranging from 15 to 18 were arrested and charged with burglary and grand theft (NBCUniversal Media, LLC, 2014).

Personally I believe that restorative justice will only be effective for a smaller group of people. It takes a lot of inner strength to forgive someone that has caused you so much harm. Besides, majority of the people in our society today will never reach on to level of forgiveness, because they are still grieving and want revenge. The only way Dreisinger practice of restorative justice could work in America is if it is in collaboration with offenders who have committed nonviolence

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.

Restorative justice programs need to be implemented into communities. Communities need programs like the restorative justice approach to be provided as a supplement from the community, which uses the same courts and corrections system. Every year offenders are released from prison and placed back into the community. Once an offender is placed back into the community, they do not know how to make the transition back into society. The problems offenders face within the community, causes offenders to recidivate.

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.