What is Restorative Justice?
Restorative Justice is one of the most talked about developments
in the field of crime and justice. Its proponents argue that
punishment, society's customary response to crime, neither meets
the needs of crime victims nor prevents reoffending. Restorative
justice is a distinctive approach to crime and conflict which has a
quite different focus from conventional Court based models of
proving guilt.
In its place, they suggest, should be restorative justice, in
which families and communities of offenders encourage them to take
responsibility for the consequences of their actions, express
repentance and repair the harm they have done.
Some of the practices typically identified with restorative
justice include
- Victim-offender mediation
- Restorative conferencing
- Sentencing and healing circles
- Circles of support and accountability
A central theme is that restorative justice cannot be understood
as simply a new technique for controlling crime. Rather, it
represents a major paradigm shift, and a profound challenge to
conventional understanding of what is meant by crime and justice,
and of how society should relate to the offenders.
Around the world, restorative justice is increasingly being used
within criminal justice systems, schools, workplaces and other
settings where conflict occurs. The principles of restorative
justice are being used to construct and handle problems of slavery
and other historical injustices, mass violence, genocide and war
crimes.