Restorative justice

Question 1

what is restorative justice?

Answer 1

process of managed collaboration between the offender and victim based on the principles of healing and empowerment

Question 2

how does restorative justice work?

Answer 2

a supervised meeting takes place attended by trained mentor in which victims are able to express how they feel and how the incident has affected them. criminals are able to see the consequences of their actions

Question 3

what are the 4 key features of the process

Answer 3

1. focus on acceptance and responsibility and positive change for people who harm others
2. not restricted to courtrooms
3. active rather than passive involvement of all parties
4. focus on positive outcomes for survivors or those engaged in wrongdoing

Question 4

variations of the process

Answer 4

RJ is not always face to face encounter but can be financial restitution that represent the psychological damage done

Question 5

restorative justice council

Answer 5

an independent body whose role is to establish clear standards to support victims and specialised professionals in the field

Question 6

evaluation -diversity of programmes

Answer 6

variety of ways in which programmes can be administered and where this means schemes can be tailored to meet the needs of the individual
however this leads to difficulty drawing conclusions on the effectiveness of programmes

Question 7

relies on offenders showing remorse

Answer 7

prisoners may sign up to schemes for reduction in sentences rather than a genuine desire to make ammends with victim
this means pos outcomes might not be met if prisoners are taking part for wrong reasons

Question 8

expensive Shapland et al

Answer 8

concluded for every £1 spent on RJ would save the criminal justice system £8 through reduced offending
however meetings need to be facilitated by trained professionals who are expensive

Question 9

femenist critique

Answer 9

womens aid have called for a legislative ban on RJ in domestic violence cases, this relates to power imbalance between abuser and abused

Question 10

soft option

Answer 10

alternatives to prison do not recieve popular support they are often regarded as a soft option these are often echode by politicians keen to convice they are tough on crime

Question 11

restorative justice- does it work??? sherman and strong 2007

Answer 11

• compared 36 studies in RJ with conventional justice such as prison
• found reduction in re offending rates for violent crimes
• incidences of PTSD were reduced and parties recorded greater satisfaction with process
• suggests RJ may have positive outcomes for both victims and offenders