Reparation

• When an offender makes amends to the individual or to society as a whole -refers to material and social crimes.

  • financial compensation - paying for damage / cost of repairing the damage done to someone's property
  • pard work - making reparation to society through community payback.
• Restorative justice - making amends involves the offender to recognise the wrongfulness of their actions. These schemes bring offenders and victims together with the help of a mediator. An individual becomes a conforming member of society after Restorative Justice is carried out.
• Restorative Justice

  • makes justice the work of the community, victim & offender
  • considers the interests of victims & offenders by supporting and empowering victims while holding offenders accountable in a constructive way
  • more proportionate punishments - situation dependant
  • favours restitution over retribution (restitution tries to repair and restore victim, retribution heals victim by hurting offender)
  • forward looking - focuses on future: how community and police work together
• Labelling - people are defined by a label. Reparation helps them ‘shake off' the label of a criminal to find a meaningful way to engage with society again. However this assumes offenders and victims need to heal and repair the damage done by crime. Reparation might prevent secondary deviance - being labelled as deviant.
• Functionalism - crime is needed in society; it carries out key functions. Reparation helps repair society, returning it to its stable state. It reinforces important social values; forgiveness and apologising to society- which are essential for any functioning society.