restorative justice

• a system for dealing with criminal behaviour by focusing on rehabilitation of offenders through reconciliation with victims

  • allows offender to see the impact of their crime and serves to empower victims by giving them a voice
• switch the emphasis from the needs of the state by enforcing laws to the needs of the individual victim where they can come to terms with their crime
• process of managed collaboration between offender and victim based on principles of healing and empowerment
• a supervised meeting between 2 parties is organised and attended by a trained mediator where the victim is given the opportunity to confront the offender and how the event affected them. the offender can also see the consequences of their actions
• focus on acceptance of responsibility and positive change for people who harm others
• focus on positive outcomes for survivors and those who engaged in wrongdoing
• variations include financial restitution, repairment of property

  • justice is flexible and can function as an alternative to prison for younger offenders
• restorative justice council advocates the use of restorative practise in preventing and managing conflicts in communities
• ✔️ flexible as schemes can be adapted to suit needs of individual situation

  • X but hard to draw general conclusions of the effectiveness of the approach
• X relies on the extent of remorse offender feels for their actions and the extent to which they are able to accept responsibility
• X specialist professionals are likely to be rare and expensive
• X feminists argue restorative justice shouldn’t be used in domestic violence relationships where there is a power imbalance