Restorative Justice - Essay Example

Restorative Justice During the 8th UN Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, it was reported that country after country suffers burgeoning prisons and an absolute failure in reducing crime. The Congress that preceded it recommended an “increase in non-custodial measure, to reduce both the use of detention and the prison population” and the “use of alternatives to imprisonment for offenders.” (United, 1995) From all corners of the globe – from rich to poor countries - it is apparent that even with gravest penalty imposed – lifetime incarceration, capital punishment in all its versions – haven’t made any progress in curbing criminality. Punishment and penal institutions, which, ideally, should be the answer to this malady, seem to produce an angrier, undesirable convicts more likely to become recidivists. Judicial systems and policy makers are, thus, under public pressure to find alternatives to traditional justice systems. Ruth Morris (1994) explains that a shift to alternative models is practical because, first, it is expensive to maintain prisons and finally, incarceration and punishment is unjust and immoral. “Our retributive justice system is based on a spirit of revenge which does not satisfy the primary healthy needs of victims, offenders, or society.” (Morris, 1994) One of the emergent alternatives to traditional justice systems is the restorative justice model. Currently, it is being integrated and used in criminal justice systems of some countries like the United Kingdom. Restorative justice, according to Les Davey, Director Real Justice United Kingdom and Ireland (March 2005), are the processes that respond to crime and wrongdoing by involving victims, offenders and their communities of care, that is, their family and friends. “Restorative Justice centers around hearing what harm a crime has caused, and finding the best way to address that harm.” (Mediation) Paul McCold, et. al. (May, 1998) coined the words “full restorative” if all the participants are involved in the process, “mostly restorative” if there are two stakeholders and “partly restorative” if there is only one party involved. “Restorative justice sometimes happens in the context of a courtroom, and sometimes within a community or nonprofit organization. In the courtroom, the process might look like this: For petty or first-time offenses, a case may be referred to restorative justice as a pretrial diversion, with charges being dismissed after fulfillment of the restitution agreement. In more serious cases, restorative justice may be part of a sentence that includes prison time or other punishments.” (“Restorative”) At present, there are three main models of Restorative Justice being practiced in the UK. They are: victim-offender mediation, family group conferencing and restorative conferencing. (“Restorative”) Mediation “While considerable variation exists with respect to program goals, pedigree, and their appropriate location within the criminal justice system, the common element is a direct voluntary encounter between crime victim and offender.” (Gehm, 1998) This process of mediation is usually in the presence of a trained mediator and is often the only option available to an incarcerated offender. “ There are Home Office sponsored victim-offender mediation projects which revealed that majority of the victims offered the chance of meeting their offender would like to do so and the great majority looked backed on the experience as worthwhile. (Davey, 2005) Family Group Conferencing There are more participants in this model than the victim-offender mediation. Participants may include the victim’s and the offender’s family, friends and others which are connected to the primary participants. “Family Group Conferences (FGCs) are a decision-making forum on what should happen in the future in relation to any number of issues.” (Models) Restorative Conferencing Restorative Conferencing seeks to resolve violations of community expectations in a manner that satisfactorily meets the needs of all parties affected by an incident through a facilitated “conference”. This model often uses a script to encourage group interaction to achieve a set of objectives. Victimology In restorative justice, there is a special attention given to the victim. First, it is because the victim is a main participant in the criminal incident. The German criminologist Hans Von Hentig (1979) was the first to raise this point. He stressed that victims are classified according to the nature of their involvement in the criminal act. This aspect of restorative justice seeks to explain how the victim’s role can mitigate or precipitate crimes. To illustrate: the British Crime Survey (2000) Statistics, stated that “since 1993 the number of burglaries has fallen. The fall is likely to be partly due to the increased use by households of home security measures, such as window locks, security lights and burglar alarms.” The victim’s role in crime prevention is, thus, highlighted. Finally, victims and their pain in restorative justice are given primary concern. Through the years, a systematic way was developed to address the trauma that a victim and those related to him suffered. Creative approaches are introduced in such a way that accountability, restoration, and reintegration are achieved by means of reconciliation. Setbacks There are cases when restorative justice cannot be applied. One of them is when a victim refuses to participate. The victim’s input is important in each stage of the restorative justice process. Hence, the effectiveness of the entire process is diminished. Apparently, there are frustrated victims who have made strong statements that there can be no reconciliation without justice. (Maepa, 2005) Also, restorative justice cannot be applied when an offender denies responsibility or shows no remorse. Some critics argue that the government handles a big chunk of reparation to the victims and, so, restorative justice is severely wanting in terms of meting out the offender’s accountability. It is said that the offender could get away with barely an apology. Does Restorative Justice Work? Time and time again, it was proven that restorative justice program yield reductions on recidivism in comparison to non-restorative approaches to criminal behavior. A study of William Nugent et. al. (Summer, 1999) on 1298 juveniles showed that throughout the late 1980s and 1990s there is a 32% reduction in recidivism among offenders who have undergone comparison group. If we are to evaluate the aims and objectives of restorative justice, we can safely say that it indeed works. What’s more important in this model is that it seeks to restore what must have been damaged during the criminal incident. It does not merely try to retrieve justice but seek the holistic healing not just in the person of the victim but of the offender as well. References Davey, Les. (2005). The development of restorative justice in the United Kingdom: A Personal Perspective. Retrieved March 31, 2006, from http://www.realjustice.org/library/au05_davey.html Gehm, John R. (1998). Victim-Offender Mediation Programs: An Exploration of Practice and Theoretical Frameworks. Retrieved March 31, 2006, from http://wcr.sonoma.edu/v1n1/gehm.html Hales, Jon, Henderson, Lynne, Collins, Debbie and Becher Harriet. (2000). British crime survey. National Centre for Social Research. Appendix A Maepa, Traggy. (February 2005),Part 2: restorative justice in practice, Retrieved March 31, 2006, from http://www.iss.co.za/pubs/Monographs/No111/Chap6.htm McCold, Paul & Wachtel, Benjamin (May, 1998) Restorative Policing Experiment. Community Service Foundation, PA Mediation UK. (n.d.). Restorative justice. Retrieved March 31, 2006, from http://www.mediationuk.org.uk/template.asp?lv=2&MenuItemID=48&MenuID=1 Models of Restorative Justice, Retrieved March 30, 2006, from http://www.mediationuk.org.uk/template.asp?lv=0&MenuItemID=106&MenuID=1&PageID=2 Morris, Ruth. (1994). A practical path to transformative justice. Retrieved March 29, 2006, from http://www.rittenhousecanada.org/info/practicalpathtotj.html Nugent, William R., Umbreit, Mark S., Wiinamaki, Lizabeth, & Paddock, Jeff. (Summer, 1999). Voma Connections, New Smyrna Beach, Florida Restorative Justice. (n.d.). Wikipedia, Retrieved March 31, 2006, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restorative_justice) United Nations. (1995). United nations congress on the prevention of crime and the treatment of offenders. Cairo, Egypt Von Hentig, Hans. (1979). The criminal and his victim. Schocken Books Read More