Forensics - Dealing with Offending Behaviour: Restorative Justice Flashcards
What does Restorative Justice place emphasis on?
RJ places emphasis on ‘giving the survivor a voice’ and showing the offender the emotional consequences of their behaviour =.
What is the focus placed on in RJ?
The focus is placed upon positive outcomes, and mediated discussion between the offender and the ‘‘survivor’’ (victim) do not need to occur within traditional courtroom settings.
What can the offender do to show remorse?
Apologies can be made and they can also pay for any damages to the survivor’s property or fix it themselves.
Who advises the guidelines as to what survivors, offenders and mediators are advised to do?
Restorative Justice Council
Who demonstrated the effectiveness of RJ schemes?
Latimer et al (2005), found that RJ was significantly more effective than traditional nonrestorative approaches in terms of increasing victim and offender satisfaction, restitution compliance and reducing recidivism.
What are the limitations of RJ?
— RJ schemes may take a naïve approach to dealing with offending behaviour because they assume that the offender and survivor will always show remorse when participating. This may not always be the case, especially considering that the offender may receive a shorter prison sentence or more rewards for participating in the scheme, whilst survivors may want revenge on
their criminal, in the form of physical or verbal abuse. Therefore, although RJ is useful in theory, it may be less so in real life.
— RJ has also been critisised by feminists, particularly when used in cases of domestic abuse or violence. This is because RJ does not place the offender and victim on an equal power balance, as the victim will seem accusatory of the offender. Therefore, in cases where there is such a power imbalance as in domestic abuse cases, RJ schemes can fail to adequately place the blame upon the offender, as well as being traumatic and distressing for the survivor. This means that RJ cannot be used as a way of dealing with offending behaviour for all crimes, and so has limited
utility.
What is a strength of RJ?
+ RJ shares a similar strength with behaviour modification/token economy systems, in that both are flexible and easy to implement. RJ can be modified for prisons, psychiatric institutions and schools, according to the specific problems faced in these organisations. The increasing use of RJ may encourage methods of conflict resolution rather than violence and aggression because the offender is made aware of the consequences of their actions first-hand.
