Restorative Justice - Chapter 1
Mercy123
PeersPost_RestorativeJustice.docxVance’s Post:
Restorative justice is a term that inadequately defines a philosophy to heal person's and offenders who are participants in criminal activity. . Chapter one does a great job in identifying the judicial systems approach to crime by claiming that society itself is in many cases the victim and the person who was physically harmed by the crime is merely a witness. The "witness" is only valuable during the prosecutorial process to provide evidence to prove the states case. The problem in society being defined as the victim is that the true victim, the person harmed, is forgotten once criminal adjudication has occurred.
There are three basic questions that are asked in a retributive Justice Framework; What rules were broken? who committed the crime? What are the punishments that the offender deserves?
The Restorative Framework asks three questions such as: Who was harmed? How were they harmed? What are their needs and how can we restore relationships?
In examining the three fold concerns of restorative Justice, how are victim-offender relationships being repaired, meetings between victims and offenders can repair relationships, are they being offered? Can a positive meeting allow for the offender to take responsibility for their actions and crimes. How is the community being restored or healed?
The phrases of categorizing persons as offenders and victims are biased as there are situations where offenders offend because of various reasons. A victim of sex trafficking may violate the laws surrounding prostitution but they are also victims because they are being pressured and coerced into the activities. The vernacular used to categorize individuals can not be sufficient due to the absence of elements that identify particulars related to the persons circumstances.
Restorative Justice studies how to heal and repair communities and persons while restorative Living examines how to improve the quality of life for individuals and communities.
In researching practical applications for Restorative justice, scenarios in which the perpetrators and participants of crimes can benefit from mediation and court ordered reconciliation, formulas must be used to ensure that victims are not further victimized and offenders are not able to offend. If a business owner has merchandise stolen by an individual, but the thief is stealing the items to feed their family. The store owner can be apprised of the offenders circumstances and offered the opportunity to participate and feel that justice is better served in assisting the offender.
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Shakina Mohammad’s Post:
1. Restorative Justice is a way of responding to criminal behavior by balancing the needs of the community, the victims and the offenders. It is an evolving concept that has given rise to different interpretation in different countries one around which there is not always a perfect consensus. It is a broad term which encompasses a growing social movement to institutionalize peaceful approaches to harm, problem- solving and violations of legal and human rights. These range from international peacemaking tribunals such as the truth and reconciliation commission of South Africa to innovations within our criminal justice system. schools, social services and communities. 2. Why should criminal law theorists be concerned with the problem of poverty and other forms of disadvantage, whatever their source? Whether a direct connection can be drawn between economic recession and higher rates of offending is another question. And are there any crimes that should never result in a sentence of community supervision?
4. The threefold concern for restorative justice is repair crime causes harm and justice requires repairing that harm; (2) encounter the best way to determine how to do that is to have the parties decide together; and (3) transformation: this can cause fundamental changes in people, relationships and communities. The problems in restorative justice is Being a survivor of domestic violence and much of my experiences in the criminal justice system linked to domestic violence the major problem with restorative justice especially in terms of Aboriginal women who experience domes violence and then are arrested because of those experiences. 5. The author avoid using the term victim and offender because while crime victims do not always become offenders most offenders have been victims. The victimization experience can produce negative physical, mental, and behavioral outcomes in individuals and some may go on to commit their own crimes. In the criminal justice system, the term “victim” no longer merely describes a witness who the prosecution holds out to have suffered harm due to defendant’s criminal conduct. “Victim” now defines an individual who is an independent participant in the criminal case under federal or state victims’ rights laws.1 Thus, the term “victim” denotes a person’s legal status and defines the level and extent of participation that the individual is entitled to in the criminal case. This status is significant because, just as constitutional protections attach once a person accused of a crime gains the legal status of “defendant,” a statutory and/or constitutional “victim” can exercise certain participatory rights unavailable to the general public. The criteria for obtaining victim status varies among jurisdictions; however, since many victims’ rights attach pretrial, if not pre-charging, the determination of who is a “victim” cannot be a factual determination dependent on defendant’s guilt or innocence. For this reason, using the term “victim” during court proceedings is proper, as it accurately identifies a victim’s legal role in the proceeding.
6. Restorative justice is a strategy that seeks to repair relationships that have been damaged, including those damaged through bullying. It does this by bringing about a sense of remorse and restorative action on the part of the offender and forgiveness by the victim. As much as possible, restorative living aims to take stock of where divisions have occurred in our communities and work toward balance, understanding and reconciliation. Strengthen the community to prevent future harms. ... Most communities can ultimately use situations of harm to learn, grow and change where it’s necessary.
7. A prison setting is a perfect place restorative justice is mainly used. Some of the programs typically identified with Restorative Justice include:
· Victim/Offender Mediation or Dialogue
· Conferencing
· Peace making circles
· Victim assistance and involvement
· Former prisoner assistance and involvement
· Reduction of DMI (Disparate Minority Incarceration)
· Real restitution
· Community service
Restorative Justice emphasizes the importance of working with prisoners and their victims in a way that promotes healing and encourages reconciliation, elevating the role of crime victims and community members in the process, holding prisoners directly accountable to the people whom they have violated, enabling prisoners to have access to transformative programs while incarcerated, restoring the emotional and material losses of victims, and providing a range of opportunities for dialogue, negotiation, and problem solving, whenever possible, that can lead to a greater sense of community safety, conflict resolution, and closure for all involved.
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