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Criminal Justice

Student’s name

Course title

Professor’s name

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Restorative Justice

Restorative justice is a way of retorting to lawbreaking, or to a different kind of

misconduct, conflict or injustice, which focuses majorly on fixing the harm done by the

unlawful deed and reinstating, as much as possible, the comfort of all the affected people

(United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2019). Restorative justice reflects an extra

relational justice theory since it stresses the reinstatement of equality, dignity, and equality to

the relations impacted by the offence. It is referred to as ‘restorative’ justice since it takes into

account restorative procedures, that is, procedures which reinstate agency, decision-making,

and ownership capacity to the affected families, including the victims, wrongdoers, their

followers, and the entire society. Instead of leaving all accountability to the legal authorities,

it purposes to engage the direct participants to resolve the harm.

‘Restorative justice’ is also referred to as restorative since it follows ‘restorative

values’, those that favor cooperative and agreement-based processes rather than the

adversarial and adjudicative forms which often characterize conservative criminal justice

processes. When wrongdoers are called to honestly admit their felony, respectfully pay

attention to their victims, and uphold their obligations to get things back to normal again,

noteworthy actions are carried out to reinstating dignity and achieving the requirements of all

participants. Additionally, ‘restorative justice’ is also based on feminist relational model,

grounded on the interpersonal nature of people and "an understanding of the self as

constituted in and through relationships with others" (United Nations Office on Drugs and

Crime, 2019). It perceives crime in social terms, as "harm caused to individuals in

relationship with others and in the connections between and among them".

‘Restorative justice’ is not new, it has been in use around the globe for centuries now.

Nevertheless, restorative justice is quite dissimilar from the common penal system. Rather
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than locking criminals in cells, a ‘restorative justice’ system gives them a chance to correct

their mistakes and change their behaviors from then (Waldenu University, 2022). As a

system, restorative justice perceives a crime as an action leading to harm, rather than a

breakage of rules. So, it perceives imprisonment as an ancillary, inadequate, and eventually

an unsuccessful response to felony.

Restorative justice can be defined by citing moral values such as honesty speaking,

voluntary partaking, the development of a ‘safe and respectful’ surrounding, an optimistic

obligation to ‘repair’ and a concern to elucidate answerability for harms (United Nations

Office on Drugs and Crime, 2019). However, these key values do not entirely define

restorative process.

Whereas being accountable for the harm caused to victims is critical, accountability

also relates to assuming obligation for addressing the repercussions of one’s deeds. When

someone is held accountable by the criminal justice process, it simply means that the

individuals are accorded the punishment they deserve, regardless of whether they take

responsibility for their deeds (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2019). On the

contrary, restorative justice demands more of the offender’s character. It requires that the

offender takes personal guilt for harming their victims, become willing to directly see the

consequences of their actions on their victims, and take active duty to put things right back.

Importance of Restorative Justice to Criminal Justice System

First of all, ‘restorative justice’ gives the victim a chance to feel as a part of the

process and be heard outside the typical justice system procedures (Catch22, 2021). The

victim is actively involved in the case and has a direct chance to question the criminal,

demonstrate feelings and reactions. Restorative justice procedures give the victim a chance to
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process their humanly feelings, address their worry about a chance to be wronged again, and

hopefully be ascertained that the criminal has no intention to cause any further harm. Besides,

by directly engaging the victims, the offenders can understand the amount of harm they have

caused them, probably offer their reasons as to why they carried out the felony, and try to

make changes.

A government research indicated that a direct communication amid an offender and

their victim reduces the chances of recidivism by 14 percent. Restorative resolutions suggest

that this result from the fact that the criminals may not have witnessed the effects of their

deeds on their sufferers ‘first-hand’, therefore seeing the harmed person and the impacts such

actions have caused their life might lead them to stop doing further crimes (Catch22, 2021).

In a research done to evaluate three ‘restorative justice systems in Wales and England, it was

established that the wrongdoers who got involved in a restorative justice process carried out

significantly lesser number of offences in the two subsequent years, compared to the

incarcerated offenders (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2019).

In New Zealand’s Department of Justice, an analysis of the recidivism for ‘restorative

justice’ cases committed amid 2008 and 2013 indicated the recidivism rate for adult criminals

who were involved ‘restorative justice’ process was 15% lower, over a subsequent period of

one year, than comparable wrongdoers, and 7.5% lesser over the subsequent three years

(Federal-Provincial-Territorial Ministers Responsible for Justice and Public Safety, 2018).

The research established out that there was reduced recidivism over diverse kinds of felonies,

such as property related felonies and violence.

Lastly, restorative justice is important to the community. By preventing or resolving

conflicts, it stops them from becoming felonies. For instance, it can be to stop antisocial

conducts or neighbor conflicts (Catch22, 2021). The restorative processes give people the
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opportunity to witness the effects of their felonies on the society. Some of the ways

restorative justice is used in the society are societal arbitration, police and society support

officers.
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References

Wisdom Wednesdays: Why is restorative justice important? - Catch22. Catch22. (2021).

Retrieved 8 April 2022, from https://www.catch-22.org.uk/news/restorative-justice-

important/.

Federal-Provincial-Territorial Ministers Responsible for Justice and Public Safety (2018).

Principles and Guidelines for Restorative Practice in the Criminal Matters.

https://scics.ca/en/product-produit/principles-and-guidelines-for-restorative-justice-

practice-in-criminal-matters-2018/

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (2019).Crime Prevention & Criminal Justice

Module 8 Key Issues: 1. Concept, Values and Origin of Restorative Justice. Retrieved

8 April 2022, from

https://www.unodc.org/e4j/en/crime-prevention-criminal-justice/module-8/key-

issues/1--concept--values-and-origin-of-restorative-justice.html.

Waldenu University (2022). The-role-of-restorative-justice-in-a-criminal-justice-system.

Retrieved 8 April 2022, from

https://www.waldenu.edu/online-bachelors-programs/bs-in-criminal-justice/resource/

the-role-of-restorative-justice-in-a-criminal-justice-system.
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