restorative justice Flashcards
1
Q
peace circles
A
- r.j involves resoring relations between offender & their victim(s) could be through restitution or communication (could be face to face or via email, letter or phone)
- one method is peace circles where min of 3 people sit in a circle of chairs (& use talking to take turns speaking)
- talk through what happened, why it happened & how the damage can be fixed
- if resolution in not reached in a single session, multiple will be held until a genuine consesus is achieved
2
Q
victim offender mediation
A
- voluntary for victim
- is where they & offender meet to discuss their feelings and perceptions of the crime & reach an agreement about how offender will repair harm they’ve caused
- hopes that by helping them understand the victim’s perspective they will develop empathy (& so be deterred from re-offending)
- meetings facilitates by trained supervisor who helps resolve any conflict
3
Q
youth aid panel
A
- for 1st time offenders of a non-violent crime
- juvenile will be interviewed by probation officer & if they’re determined eligible, will come before a panel of trained volunteers from the community
- the juvenile, their parents & the panel will work together to come up with a contract that holds the offender accountable (eg: making them do community service) & meets their treatment needs
4
Q
theraputic communities
A
- creates an evironement where offenders are able to get help whilst supporting others
- (so play dual role of client and therapist)
- range of assignments that they can perform from house services like cleaning, to acting as apprentices & conducting meetings
- aims to help them re-integrate into society by deterring bev that is unproductive & undermines safety of others
5
Q
ineffective : remorse
A
- need to feel truly remorseful for harm they’ve caused
- because if they don’t effort to mend their relationship with their victim won’t be genuine so likely 2 reoffend
- may not be appropriate for all criminals, eg: pschopaths
- may esp. be a problem as (patrick) dunlop et al suggests that even minor offenders tend to score highly for psychoticism & thus probably lack empathy
6
Q
ineffective : problematic behaviours
A
- doesn’t necessarly help them modify problematic tendencies which led to them initally commiting crime
- thus even if they develop empathy & understand the errors of their ways, they may offend again
- eg: if have agression issues, likely to assault somone who offends them even if they know its wrong
- anger management may be better as actually teaches offenders how to better respond to conflict
7
Q
effective : active
A
- active in their rehabilitation
- gives them the opportunity to take accountability & repair the harm they caused their victims
- deters them from re-offending as doing so would almost undo work they had initially done 2 make things right
- supported by sherman & strang which found that 11% of those who did r.j reoffended compared to 37% of matched contol group
8
Q
effective : young people
A
- by teaching errors of the way at early age, reduces chance of them commiting more serious offences
- reduce amount of criminal, decreases pressure on police, gov doesn’t have to spend as much of tax payers money funding them & allocate it to other sectors
9
Q
effective : compared to incarceration
A
- actually tries to rehabilitate offenders
- in contrast methods like incarceration tend to focus on punishment & the removal of basic rights eg privacy which can be quite dehumanising
- means will be less motivated to make positive changes & thus more likely to re-offend upon release
- r.j gives them tools need to effectively re-integrate into society & empowers them to be better people
10
Q
consent : forced coercion
A
- offenders may feel pressured to take part in restorative justice to reduce their sentence & avoid prison time
- may feel forced to continue with programme even if they feel uncomfortable
- could decrease effectiveness as if they don’t actually want to restore relations between them & victim, any consensus reached won’t be genuine & likely to reoffend
11
Q
harm : little risk
A
- meetings between victim & offender are facilitated by trained supervisor who has experience with sensitive cases
- can intervene if there’s any conflict to prevent offender from causing further harm to victim
- if either party feels uncomfortable, programme ends
- reduces risk of them experiencing severe psychological distress or trauma as can simply choose not to continue
12
Q
harm : domestic abuse
A
- even knowing that offender has tried to contact them
could be severly distressing for victim - esp. likely for victims of abuse as are often terrified of their abuser due to the trauma they have endured & thus may enter state of anxiety & parinoia
- unethical to rehabilitate offender at sake of victim’s mental health, argument supported by women aid’s who have called 4 ban of r.j in cases of domestic abuse
13
Q
harm : compared to incarceration
A
- less harmful than incarceration as focus on punishment & removal of basic rights can be dehumanising
- methods like solitary confinement can cause serious damage 2 inmates’ mental health - making them more susceptible 2 anxiety & psychosis
- contributes to stigma of criminals being like animals that need to be locked away instead of people worthy of compassion
- makes it harder to re-integrate into society
14
Q
economic : for
A
- cheaper than incarcertion & probation & more effective as by allowing them 2 repent & restore relations, reduces chance of them re-offending so better use of money
- also much cheaper than cost of crime as puts further pressure on police so gov has spend more of tax payers money on funding them as repairing damage caused
- thus use of r.j could allow them to re-allocate this money to other sectors
15
Q
economic : against
A
- people may be opposed to their taxes been used to help prisoners who may have intentionally harmed others & disrupted society
