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Write an essay to address the following, and support your points with the cases provided in the module content (Page III):
Identify the key principles of restorative justice and what it aims to achieve.
What are the key elements that restorative justice programs must observe in order to achieve the goal of healing and repairing relationships?
Who should be involved in the restorative justice process for it to function effectively? Why is each role important?
Do you agree that restorative justice will transform the traditional criminal justice? Explain your answer and support it with evidence.
Do you have concerns or criticisms of this program? Please explain your answer.
Your well-written essay should meet the following requirements:
Be 3-4 pages in length.
Include at least two academic sources including peer reviewed journal articles, books, and gov documents
Please write in proper writing style and reference in APA
rime involves both the offender and the victim. The latter, however, is often left feeling marginalized and left out in criminal proceedings. Restorative justice has emerged in the past two decades in the United States as a major development of criminological thinking, which addresses the needs of victim, offender, and community. This approach to justice redirects a retributive approach in various forms to restorative alternatives, focusing on healing and repairing the harm that crime brings to the victim and the community. Restorative justice essentially has three main principles:
1. Crime causes harm and justice should focus on repairing the harm;
2. People most affected by the crime should be able to participate in its resolution; and
3. The responsibility of the government is to maintain order and of the community is to build peace (Prison Fellowship International, 2014).
These three foundational principles help guide the restorative justice process, aiming to mend relationships and provide closure rather than simply punish.
As we explore restorative justice principles a little more in-depth, we find that most programs aim to incorporate many of the same concepts:
Equality
Shows equal concern for victims, offenders, and the affected community.
Encouragement
Encourages the offender to feel accountable for his/her conduct and to be willing to repair the harm to the victim and the community in a way that helps the offender develop competency.
Opportunities
Provides opportunities for direct and/or indirect dialogue within the entire community of people affected, including the victim and offender.
Collaboration
Encourages those involved to collaborate in restoring and developing positive relationships, including the victim and the offender.
Empowerment
Empowers those affected to increase their capacity to recognize and respond to harm and crime in a restorative way.
Champaign-Urbana Area Project, 2014
Evaluation research has provided evidence to show that restorative justice programs are more effective in improving victim and offender satisfaction, increasing offender compliance with restitution, and reducing the reoffending in comparison to traditional criminal justice practices such as incarceration, probation, court-ordered restitution, etc. (Latimer, Dowden & Muise, 2005, p. 138).
Restorative programs have to be “about restoring victims, restoring offenders, and restoring communities as a result of participation of a plurality of stakeholders” (Braithwaite, 1999, p. 1)
Katy Hutchison became a Restorative Justice advocate following the murder of her first husband. After 10 years of sharing her story internationally to over 500 schools and community groups, she views the education system as the structure with the most potential to affect positive social change.
Restorative justice brings crime victims and communities into the process of holding transgressors accountable for their behavior and giving them the opportunity to make it right for the individuals and community whom they injured and violated. Despite the difference in the form of restorative justice programs, the process should be entirely voluntary for all participating parties; transgressors should be willing to take the responsibility for the harm and be forthright about their violation; and the participants should meet in a safe and organized setting to reach an agreement on how to repair the harm and restore peace.
A number of restorative justice programs are identified in Braithwaite’s (1999) work: victim-offender mediation, healing circles, family group conferences, restorative probation, reparation boards on Vermont models, whole school anti-bullying programs, Chinese Bang Jiao programs, and exit conferences following Western business regulatory inspections. Latimer, Dowden & Muise (2005) place the existing models of restorative justice in three categories, each operating according to the same principles, while different in practice:
• circles,
• conferences, and
• victim-offender mediations.
Currently, restorative justice may be initiated at any point in the criminal justice system and is used not just for diversionary purposes. The practice can take place in a courtroom or within a community or nonprofit organization. It has also been applied in prison to currently incarcerated offenders.
To help illustrate the point of restorative justice, let’s look at a few case studies. These studies will help you brainstorm ideas for your capstone assignment this week. Though scenarios and individuals might change, the foundational concepts of restorative justice remain the same.
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