4.1 Restorative Justice

• Restorative Justice?


  Voluntary process involving offender and victim.

  Trained facilitators work with both to talk about what happened, who was affected and how and what can be done to repair the harm.

  It can take place at any stage of the criminal justice process.
• The process of restorative justice?


  The victim and offender meet outside the courtroom with a trained specialist.

  They discuss the event and focus on the offender taking responsibility and victim forgiving them for closure.

  This could be achieved by the victim saying how they were affected.

  The offender then sees the impact their crime had, and may choose to share motives or an apology.

  Victim will hopefully achieve closure and the offender can make first steps towards rehabilitation.
• Why is it effective?


  There is evidence of it being effective.

  Sherman and Strang (2007) meta analysis of 36 studies and found reduction in re offending, especially for property crimes.
• Why is it ineffective?


  Requires offender to actually engage in the process and feel remorse. They may not be able to feel this (e.g may be an affection less pyschopath) or may pretend in order to escape other punishment.

  It is not suitable for all crimes - for example, domestic violence may traumatise victims to be face to face with aggressor.
• How does it reduce crime/ link to functionalism?


  Links to boundary maintenance: it allows the victim to condemn the wrong doers actions and reinforce society’s commitment to shared norms and values.

  If effective, it should bring the offender back in line with societies shared norms and values.