Georgianna Buffolino

Restorative Justice

Chapter 6 review question

What are the four elements to making genuine amends?

The four elements to making genuine amends are apology, changed behavior, restitution, and generosity.
An apology has three elements, according to Carl D. Schneider, acknowledgement – owning up to what
you did and knowing you were wrong. This is not just expressing sorrow about the aggrieved person’s
beliefs (e.g., I am sorry that she feels she was hurt): this admits neither the wrong or the wrongdoing.
The second element: affect: the fact that you are bothered by what you did. According to Julie Leibrich,
private remorse is the most powerful factor in an offender’s decision to stop offending (p 101). A person
can express regret or shame in words or by their demeanor and when witness view this, they can find
validation in it, a sort of healing experience. Although regret and the expression of regret are not the
same thing, “a low capability to express regret, although diminishing the impact of the apology for the
victim, does not exactly mean there is no regret. The third element of apology is vulnerability “I am
without defense” (p 101), “The effect of an apology is to make the wrongdoer powerless before the
person wronged An apology is the exchange of shame and power between the offender and the victim.

The second element to an amends, changed behavior which basically means to stop committing crimes,
but the change can be deeper than that. One reason victims participate and do restorative justice is in
hopes of changing the criminal and not having what happened to them happen to anyone else. They
really aren’t concerned with the offender rehabilitating themselves, but instead making sure the crime
does not happen to anyone else. Genuine change has two aspects to it: changed value shown in changed
behavior. In order to change behavior there needs to be a change in environment, learning of new
behavors, and rewarding for positive change. These elements are part of what makes the agreements
that are negotiated in many restorative processes. One type of reward given is the follow-up meeting
that happens after many of these encounters, there the offender will receive positive reinforcement for
their efforts to complete the agreement.

Third, restitution, which is a formal way of holding the offender accountable for their actions. This is a
main way for the justice system to respond restoratively to the harm that has taken place to the victim.
Restitution usually consists of the offender replacing or returning the property in form of financial
payment or by performing direct services for the victim, this is an essential part of criminal justice
process, Sir Thomas Moore, in 1516, wrote Utopia, where he suggested in his book that criminals be
sentenced to labor or public work for pay for there to be funds that can repay the victims. Not until the
1980’s did restitution become firmly established as part of the legislature in the US. Although, it is only
of secondary importance to traditional sentencing in the criminal justice process.

Fourth, generosity, the final part of making amends. This means going beyond the demands of justice
and equity, this is creative restitution. This means going beyond what is required of them, for example,
an offender may offer to provide services that are not a part of the agreement that was made, doing
extra and giving even though it is not required of them, this is a part of restitution that is negotiated by
the offender and the victim, the offender taking on more than what is expected of them.

References

Van Ness & Strong, (2015), Restoring Justice: An Introduction to Restorative Justice