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Peacemaking Criminology: A Transformative Crime Prevention Strategy
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Peacemaking Criminology: A Transformative Crime Prevention Strategy
Peacemaking criminology presents a radical approach to the issues of crime
prevention, which focuses on the concept of repair rather than the notion of punishment. This
strategy combines conventional criminal justice frameworks and incorporates humane and
restorative justice methodologies for handling crime and societal unrest. This paper will
further discuss peacemaking criminology as an innovative crime prevention model involving
restoration and reparation and will establish how this concept relates to the restorative justice
theory.
Peacemaking criminology is a concept which empowers individuals to understand that
conflict and suffering cannot be overcome by increasing the level of suffering. However, it
eliminates adversarial approaches to conflict management by insisting on values such as
transparency, trust and voluntarism. This approach is informed by the religious, humanistic,
and feminist approaches and seeks to challenge institutions of domination, power, and
authority (Amster, 2019). Thus, it underlines the concept of inner harmony and personal
growth, which conveys that change starts from within and needs to be based on love and
forgiveness. Therefore, by creating communities of caring and empathetic people and
universal social justice, the concept of peacemaking criminology will reduce violence in
interpersonal relations.
One of the components of this strategy relates to the reform of the criminal justice
system, which also entails the unspecified use of community policing and conflict resolution.
Community policing, for instance, entails a partnership between the police force and
community members to resolve conflicts and fight crime. Moreover, the concept of
peacemaking among criminologists concerns mediation, conflict resolution, and personal and
societal change (Trombley, 2019). This approach involves the general concepts of restorative
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justice aimed at eradicating the causes of crime and providing remedies to the victims and
society. Restorative justice entails positioning all stakeholders, including the offender, the
direct victim, and the community, to bootstrap into a non-adversarial approach to enforce
accountability from the offender and avail resources for the victim to restore the losses from
the experience of a crime (Van Ness et al., 2022).
In conclusion, the key argument of peacemaking criminology is that society has to be
transformed to avoid crimes. This strategy, rooted in empathy, cooperation, and dealing with
conflict through restorative justice, presents a solution to the reliance on traditional punitive
measures towards fostering a society that is equal and free from violence. When it comes to
the effectiveness of the principles of peace-making criminology as the field of study
progresses, it has the potential to have a broad impact and practically revolutionize current
criminal justice systems.
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References
Amster, R. (2019). From Peacemaking to Peacebuilding Criminology. Critical Criminology,
pp. 27, 73–84. https://doi.org/10.1007/S10612-019-09442-Y.
Eisler, L., White, R., & Haines, F. (2018). Crime and Criminology: An Introduction to
Theory.
Trombley, J. (2019). Peacemaking Criminology. Criminology.
https://doi.org/10.1093/obo/9780195396607-0266.
Van Ness, D. W., Strong, K. H., Derby, J., & Parker, L. L. (2022). Restoring justice: An
introduction to restorative justice. Routledge.
https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781003159773/restoring-justice-
daniel-van-ness-karen-heetderks-strong-jonathan-derby-lynette-parker
