12. restorative justice Flashcards
what is restorative justice
a system of dealing with criminal behaviour which focuses on the rehabilitation of offenders through reconciliation within victims.
offenders see the impact of their crime and the process empowers victims by giving them a voice.
what is the restorative justice process based on
the principals of healing and empowerment through a supervised meeting between the offender and survivor.
what happens during the restorative justice process
the victim is given the opportunity to confront the offender and explain how the incident affected them. similarly the offender is able to see the consequences of their actions including the emotional distress it caused - important part of rehabilitation process.
restorative justice has to be voluntary for all parties and seeks a positive outcome. it is respectful and not degrading for either the offender or victim.
what are the five aims of restorative justice
opportunity to explain impact of the crime.
acknowledgment of the harm caused.
chance to ask questions.
acceptance of responsibility.
active (rather than passive) involvement of both parties.
what key features does restorative justice involve
a focus on positive change and active involvement beyond the courtroom.
what are the variations of the restorative justice process
could be financial or repairing property - can function as an add on to community service or alongside prison.
what is the restorative justice council
independent body which establishes standards for professionals in the field.
what evidence is there to support restorative justice - sherman and strang
conducted a meta analysis and concluded that in no way can restorative justice be more harmful than the traditional justice system - it is at least equally as effective as the traditional justice system in all cases.
in most cases (especially with more serious offences and with adult offenders) it is significantly more effective than the traditional justice system at lowering recidivism rates as well as lowering rates of post traumatic stress disorder in the victims.
what evidence is there against restorative justice - miers
restorative justice programmes require both parties to be committed to the approach. for example miers found that most offender victim meetings were received favourably but some victims felt unsure that the offender was taking part for the right reasons.
however other researchers argue that the overall feedback is positive in comparison to other forms of punishment - this is important because it shows the importance of being committed to the programme and feeling positive about it.
how is the diversity of programmes a strength for restorative justice
unlike custodial sentencing there is not a one size fits all approach so it can be applied differently depending on the crime and the victim.
how does the process relying on the offender feeling remorse create a weakness for restorative justice
there is a danger that some offenders just sign up to avoid prison and do not feel remorse for their crimes.
how does expense create a weakness for restorative justice
requires a skilled meditator to run this programme and it suffers high dropout rates as victim may lose their nerve.
why is restorative justice seen as a soft option
may not be seen by the public as a real sentence and a soft option for those who commit crime.
why do feminists critique the restorative justice programme
there has been a call for a ban on restorative justice by feminist groups for domestic violence causes due to the power imbalance between the abuser and the abused.
what does davies and raymond argue about the current legal systems
an important consideration for legal systems is whether our current methods of dealing with offender behavior work.
prison is the overwhelmingly popular choice for punishing or dealing with offenders and it offers little to no rehabilitation meaning that recidivism is not dealt with appropriately and the problem does not go away.
this then prompts the question - what do we do with offenders?
