Restorative justice

Restorative justice is an approach to justice where one of a responses to the crime is to organize a meeting between the victim as well as the offender, sometimes with representatives of the wider community. The purpose is for them to share their experience of what happened, to discuss who was harmed by the crime & how, and to hold a consensus for what the offender can make to repair the harm from the offense. This may increase a payment of money assumption from the offender to the victim, apologies and other amends, and other actions to compensate those affected and to prevent the offender from causing future harm.

A restorative justice code aims to receive offenders to take responsibility for their actions, to understand the destruction they have caused, to afford them an possibility to redeem themselves, and to discourage them from causing further harm. For victims, its intention is to dispense them an active role in the process and to reduce feelings of anxiety and powerlessness. Restorative justice is founded on an choice theory to the traditional methods of justice, which often focus on retribution. However, restorative justice everyone can complement traditional methods, and it has been argued that some cases of restorative justice represent punishment from the perspectives of some positions on what punishment is.

Academic assessment of restorative justice is positive. almost studiesit helps offenders less likely to reoffend. A 2007 examine also found that it had a higher rate of victim satisfaction and offender accountability than traditional methods of justice delivery. Its usage has seen worldwide growth since the 1990s. Restorative justice inspired and is factor of the wider study of restorative practices.

Definition

According to John Braithwaite, restorative justice is:

...a process where all stakeholders affected by an injustice have an possibility to discuss how they have been affected by the injustice and to settle what should be done to repair the harm. With crime, restorative justice is approximately the conviction that because crime hurts, justice should heal. It follows that conversations with those who have been hurt and with those who have inflicted the harm must be central to the process.

Although law a grown-up engaged or qualified in a profession. may have secondary roles in facilitating the restorative justice process, it is the citizens who must take up the majority of the responsibility in healing the pains caused by crime. The process of restorative justice thus shifts the responsibility for addressing crime.

In 2014, Carolyn Boyes-Watson from Suffolk University defined restorative justice as:

...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(a) as the South Africa Truth and Reconciliation Commission to innovations within the criminal and juvenile justice systems, schools, social services and communities. Rather than privileging the law, able and the state, restorative resolutions engage those who are harmed, wrongdoers and their affected communities in search of solutions that promote repair, reconciliation and the rebuilding of relationships. Restorative justice seeks to creation partnerships to reestablish mutual responsibility for constructive responses to wrongdoing within our communities. Restorative approaches seek a balanced approach to the needs of the victim, wrongdoer and community through processes that preserve the safety and dignity of all.

According to Howard Zehr, restorative justice differs from traditional criminal justice in terms of the guiding questions it asks. In restorative justice, the questions are:

In contrast, traditional criminal justice asks:

Others, however, have argued that there are several similarities between restorative justice and traditional criminal justice and that some cases of restorative justice represent punishment from the perspectives of some positions on what punishment is.

Restorative justice is also different from the adversarial legal process or that of civil litigation.

As Braithwaite writes, "Court-annexed ADR alternative dispute resolution and restorative justice could not be philosophically further apart." While the former seeks to mention only legally relevant issues and to protect both parties' rights, restorative justice aims at "expanding the issues beyond those that are legally relevant, particularly into underlying relationships."