Restorative Justice

• Restorative justice

  • A system for dealing with offending behaviour which focuses on the rehabilitation of offenders through reconciliation with victims.
  • this enables an offender to see the impact of their crime and serves to empower victims by giving them a voice.
• How does restorative justice change the emphasis of dealing with offending behaviour?

  • Historically a person convicted of a criminal offence would have been regarded as having committed a crime against the state.
  • In contrast, restorative justice programmes switch the emphasis from the needs of the state to the needs of the victim.
• What does Braithwaite suggest about restorative justice?

  • Suggests crime hurts, justice should heal.
  • Less about retribution, i.e punishing the offender and more about reparation (repairing the harm caused)
• What does restorative justice focus on?

  • Victim (or survivor) of the crime and their recovery
  • The offenders and their rehabilitation process
• Key features of a restorative justice programme

  • Trained mediator supervises the meeting
  • Non-courtroom setting where offenders voluntarily meet with survivors
  • Can be face-to-face or remotely via video link
  • Survivor giving the opportunity to confront the offender and explain how the incident has affected them
  • Active involvement of all parties where possible
  • Other community members may have a role in the process e.g neighbours, family, friends and the effect of the crime on them.
• When does restorative justice occur?

  • May occur pre-trial, could function alongside a prison sentence, or as an alternative to prisoner or as an incentive to reduce the length of the offence.
• How does restitution work?

  • Restitution is seen as a monetary payment from the offender to the survivor resulting from the offence.
  • This would reflect to psychological damage caused or actual physical damage e.g if it was a break in.
  • However it can also be done in an emotional sense. The offender can support the healing process by rebuilding the survivors confidence or self-esteem.
• Restorative justice council

  • An independent body whose role is to establish clear standards for the use of restorative justice and to support survivors and specialist professionals.
  • RJC advocates restorative practice can be applied to other settings to prevent and manage conflict. e.g schools, children’s services, workplaces, hospitals
• Support for positive outcomes

  • RJC reported results from a 7year research project which found 85% of survivors reported satisfaction with the process of meeting the offender to face to face and 78% would recommend it to others.
  • 60% of survivors felt the process made them feel better about the incident, enabling them to feel closure and move on. Only 2% said it made them feel worse.
  • This suggests that restorative justice helps survivors of crime to cope with the aftermath of the incident.
• Decrease in recidivism

  • Strang et al did a meta-analysis of 10 studies which compared offenders who experienced face-to-face custodial sentencing with those who experienced custodial sentencing.
  • The restorative justice groups were less likely to reoffend. The reduction was larger in offenders convicted of a violent crime than crimes against property.
  • This suggests RJ has a positive impact on reoffending perhaps for some types of crimes more than others.
• Not all research is positive

  • Suzuki argued restorative justice programmes are not survivor focused as often reported in satisfaction surveys.
  • it appears the survivors of the crime are used as a way of helping rehabilitate offenders rather than being helped themselves.
  • This suggests the needs of the survivor in restorative justice may seem secondary to the needs to rehabilitate offenders.
• Offenders may abuse the system

  • The success of the programme depends on the offenders intentions being honourable, they must genuinely regret the hurt caused and make amends.
  • However Van Gijseghem suggests that offenders use restorative justice for different reasons e,g avoiding punishment.
  • This would go on to explain why not all offenders benefit from restorative justice and go on to reoffend.