Dealing with offending behaviour: Restorative Justice

Question 1

Outline Restorative Justice

Answer 1

A system for dealing with offending behaviour which focuses on rehabilitation of offender through reconciliation with victims enabling offender to see impact of their crimes & srves to empower victims by giving them a voice

Question 2

A01

Outline changing the emphasis with dealing with offenders

Answer 2

RJS switches the emphasis from needs of the state ( to enforce law & punishment ) to the needs of the victim( to feek compensated in some way)
Braithwaite-This method of treatment seeks to be a healing process ‘crime hurts justice should heel’
RJS is less about ‘retribution’ (punishing offender)& more about ‘reparation’ ( repairing harm caused)
RJS focuses on 2 things:
* The victim of the crime & their recovery
* The offender& their recovery/rehabalitation process

‘’’’’’’’’’’’’’

Question 3

Outline key features of the programme RJS

Answer 3

• Trained mediator supervises the meeting
• Non-courtroom setting where offender voluntarily meets with survivor
• Can be face to face meeting
• The survivor has opportunity to confront the offender & explain how incident offended them

This enables the offender to comprehend the consequences of their actions ( & emotional distress)

Question 3

A03

Research support

strength

Answer 3

Shapland et al. (2008) found: 85% of survivors reported satisfaction after meeting face-to-face with offender; 78% would recommend it to others experiencing similar situation; 60% of survivors said it made them feel able to ‘move on’

Question 3

Outline sentencing & restitution of RJS

Answer 3

• RJ many occur during offender sentencing
• RJ could be an incentive to reduce the length of sentence or occur alongside a persons sentence
• Restitution is usually in form of a monetary payment by the offender to the vicitm for the harm resulting in the offence
• Offender can also make a financial restitution to survivior which may reflect the psychological damage caused

Question 4

A03

Abusing the system

Limitation

Answer 4

Offenders may use restorative justice to abuse the system & take pride in their relationship with survivor(s)
Can be a way for offenders to minimise their sentencing, play down their faults or avoid punishment altogether
For RJ to work, offender must be genuinely regretful for their actions & feel remorse, but is difficult to identify when offender is presented with this opportunity,
Hence, RJ not work for all offenders