Dealing with Offender Behaviour: Resotrative Justice

What are restorative justice programmes

Aim to help rebuild relationship between the offender, the victim, their family and the community at large

Attempt to improve the experience for the victim, as well as encourage the offender to take responsibility for their crime

What is criminal justice

crime and wrongdoing committed against the state and is a violation of law

seeks to determine guilty and impose punishment

exludes the people impacted from the justice outcome

What is restorative justice

crime and wrongdoing causes harm to individuals and communities

concerned with repairing the harm cause by crime and wrongdoing

people most affected by crime should be key to the resolution of the harm caused

Restorative justice process - Braithwaite (2004)

Crime hurts, justice should heal

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

Key features of the restorative justice process

Focus on acceptance of responsibility and positive change for people who harm others - less emphasis on punishment

Not restricted to courtrooms; survivors and those responsible for harm may choose to meet face-to-face

Active rather than passive involvement of all parties in the process wherever possible

Focus on positive outcomes for survivors and those who have engaged in wrongdoing

Variations of the process

financial restitution to the victim which may reflect the damage done

Other variations include the offender repairing damaged property

Restorative justice is flexible and can funcation as an alternative to prison

What is the Restorative Justice Council

independent body whose role is to establish clear standards for the use of restorative justice and to support victims and specialist professionals in the field

Support of RJ - diversity of programme

unlike custodial sentencing, the RJ programme is flexible and can cove a wide range of application

positive in the sense that schemes can be adapted and tailored to the needs of the individual situation

Limitation - relies on the offender showing remorse

RJ relies on offender feeling remorse for their actions

victim may also have an anterior motive - to seek revenge

RJ programmes may not lead to positive outcomes when participants do not agree to take part with the best of intentions

Limitation - expensive

Shapland et al (2007) concluded that every £1 spent on restorative justice would save the criminal justice system £8 through reduced reoffending

RJ programmes offer suffer high drop out rates

in practice, RJ may not be the best and most cost-effective solution