dealing with offending behaviour: restorative justice Flashcards
what is restorative justice?
- a system for dealing with offending behaivour which focuses on the rehabilitation of offenders through reconciliation with victims
- this enables an offender to see the impact of their crime and serves to empower survivors by giving them a voice
how does RJ change the emphasis?
- historically, a person convicted of a criminal offence would have been regarded as having committed a crime against the state
- RJ programmes switch the emphasis from the needs of the state (to enforce the law and punish) to the needs of the individual victim (to feel compensated and come to term with the crime)
- RJ is lessabout retribution and more about reparation
what does RJ focus on?
- the survivor of the crime and their recovery
- the offender and their recovery / rehabilitation process
key features of RJ programmes (7)
- trained mediator supervises the meeting
- non-courtroom setting where offenders voluntarily meet with survivors
- survivor is given the opportunity to confront the offender and explain how the incident affected them
- offender is able to comprehend the consequences of their actions, including the emotional distress it caused
- active, rather than passive, involvement of all parties in the process wherever possible
- focus is on positive outcomes for both survivors and ofenders
- other relevant community members eg. neighbours, friends, family members, may all wish to explain the effects of the crime
how does RJ play a role in sentencing?
- RJ may occur pre-trial
- offender’s involvement may be considered during sentencing
- could also function alongside a prison sentence
- could be an alternative to prison, especially if the offender is young
- incentive to reduce length of sentence
what forms of restitution can an offender provide?
- financial restitution: monetary payment which reflects the psychological damage caused or physical damage eg. with a break-in
- offender could repair damaged property themselves
- emotional restitution: offender can support the healing process by repairing and rebuilding the survivor’s confidence or self-esteem
what is the restorative justice council (RJC) and its role?
- independent body
- establishes clear standard for the use of RJ
- supports survivors and specialist professionals in the field
what does the RJC also advocate for?
- use of restorative practice beyond dealing with crime
- can be used in preventing and managing conflict in many area eg. schools, children’s services, workplaces, hospitals and communities
evaluation: research support (sherman and strang 2007)
- compared 36 studies of RJ and conventional justice eg. prison in a meta-analysis
- researchers found reductions in reoffending rates for violent and property crimes in particular
- for victims, incidents of PTSD were significantly reduced
- all parties reported greater satisfaction with the overall process than for conventional justice
- therefore, RJ may have positive outcomes for victims and offenders
evaluation: evidence suggests it helps survivors cope with the aftermath of the incident (shapland et al. 2008)
RJC reported the following results from a 7-year research project:
- 85% of survivors reported satisfaction with the process of meeting their offender face-to-face
- 78% would recommend it to other people experiencing a similar situation
- 60% of survivors felt the process had made them feel better about the incident, enabling them to feel closure and move on
- only 2% said it made them feel worse
evaluation: needs of the survivor may be seen as secondary to the need to rehabilitate offenders (wood and suzuki 2016)
- argue that restorative processes are not as survivor-focused as often reported in satisfaction surverys
- said that RJ processes can become distorted
- survivors of crime may be used as a way of helping to rehabilitate offenders, rather than being helped themselves
evaluation: RJ does seem to lead to a decrease in rates of recidivism (strang et al. 2013)
- meta-analysis of 10 studies comparing offenders who experienced face-to-face RJ schemes with those who just experienced custodial sentencing
- RJ group was significantly less likely to reoffend
- reduction was larger in offenders convicted of violent crime than crimes against property
evaluation: RJ does seem to lead to a decrease in rates of recividism (bain 2012)
- found lowered recidivism rates with adult offenders, especially when using one-to-one contact rather than general community involvement
- therefore, RJ has a positive impact on reoffending, maybe more so for some types of offence than others and some approaches
evaluation: offenders may abuse the system
- success of RJ programmes depends on an offender’s intentions being honourable ie. they must be taking part because they genuinely regret the hurt they caused and want to make amends
- this explain why not all offenders ultimately benefit from RJ and go on to reoffend
what did van gijseghem (2003) suggest?
offenders may use RJ for other reasons eg:
- avoiding punishment
- playing down their faults
- taking pride in their relationship with the survivor using direct contact
evaluation: not suitable for domestic violence cases
- national police chief’s council (NPCC) policy does not support the use of RJ for domestic violence cases
- liebman (2016) aruges the main concern is that the power imbalance between abuser and abused puts pressure on survivors, who may fear the worst if they do not go along with the partner’s suggestions during mediation
evaluation: useful for domestic violence cases (lünneman and wolthuis 2015)
suggest that pre-trial mediation in domestic violence cases produces positive results for survivors
evaluation: useful for domestic violence cases (sen et al. 2018)
suggests that restorative approaches are particularly useful in cases of intimate partner violence where a couple has chosen to remain together, as they can address the harm caused and plan for the future
