Difference Between Criminal Justice And Restorative Justice

Our current system of law and justice is oriented completely to the offender. “Restorative” justice is a term used to describe a number of programs that seek to do…what? What is “Restorative” justice and how may it work? Pg 67

The contemporary criminal justice system must respond in a proactive manner rather than a reactive manner. This provides both the necessary and immediate penalties for the convicted, and at the same time ensure that victims’ needs are addressed

The violation of law is not the sole focus in the restorative process. It is an attempt to repair the harm of the offense by having those directly involved mutually agree how the offender can best compensate or restore their victim, community, and self (Saxon, 2013). Traditional methods of justice often remove the victim from the community and relies only on the direction of laws to impose sentences on the offender (Saxon, 2013). One of the major drawbacks of this process is that it empowers victims, offenders, and communities in making the sentencing agreement and may result in some offenders being sentenced more harshly for the same crime another person committed (Saxon, 2013).

Restorative justice refers to the idea that the simple punishment through incarceration of a criminal may not necessarily end or satisfy the harm, injury or pain of the victim. Moreover, restorative justice argues that punishment by itself is unlikely to change the behavior of the offender in a way that guarantees he will not commit the same act(s) again and that he will feel remorse for the act(s) that he did commit. Accordingly, the aims of restorative justice are threefold. First, it aims to bring closure to the victim, whether it is through allowing them to fully participate in the criminal justice process, directly let their feelings known to the offender or understanding why the crime happened. Second, it aims to force the offender to

The United States of America, long ago, founded a disciplinary system that was to keep law abiding citizens safe. Those who broke the law were to be adequately punished and reformed, so that when criminals were done serving time, they would be ready to become contributing members of society. Mandatory minimum sentences, high prison return rates, and overworked and underfunded public defenders are just some of the issues that plague the Criminal Justice System. It is astounding that an alternative has not been sought.Restorative justice, or Circle justice is a discipline system that involves mediation, honest speaking, and healing. It gets all parties to share their experiences thoughts and feelings to address what happened in the inciting

Restorative justice is a technique to criminal justice that focuses on the needs of victims and the offender. Also, involved in the process is the community where the crime took place. The point is for both parties to play a certain role throughout the process. The offender is to learn of their mistake and take responsibility for their actions instead of using imprisonment. The victim informs the offender the difficulties the crime that was committed against them and how it has affected their lives and other people’s. The process is designed to help make the offender not offend again. The different programs the offender may go through are victim-offender mediation, restitution, and community-work programs. This type of punishment is used towards low-risk offenders.

Restorative justice is a method of justice that emphasizes repairing the harm caused or revealed by criminal behaviour. It offers a solution that promotes the healing and strengthening of community bonds, by addressing the harm done to victims and communities. The criminal justice system has traditionally concentrated on detaining and committing offenders rather than examining the roots of their problems and providing community-based services that effectively addressed them. Crime rates continue to soar under the present system and the search is ever stronger for a solution to deal with a rising prison population, high costs, overcrowding and poor conditions, a legal process less and less concerned with the victim; but rather a focus on the

Facilitators in the restorative justice programs know how important it is to make all parties feel safe and to control the imbalance of power that may occur in these interventions. “In a restorative intervention, the victim’s safety will be protected, offenders will also not be threatened, and the community’s need for safety will be accommodated” (p.151). The imbalance of power at these interventions between the parties may be due to the different factors that separate each individual, so they’re perspective on what has occurred will be different.

Robert Elias' book, 'Victims Still';, presents a very controversial stance that the victims' movement is, perhaps, not at all. Elias suggests that all the programs, laws, and institutions that have been created in the 1980s and 1990s have done absolutely nothing to help the victim. Elias also offers explanations as to how the victims' movement doesn't help victims, what the real causes of crime are, and how crime should be controlled.

I consider that restorative justice can be a viable decision-making approach in some circumstances. Various studies indicate that these programs can be effective to improve satisfactory resolutions among victims and offenders, increased compliance with restitution for offenses committed, and reduce recidivism of offenses. In the area of psychology I ponder that victim-offender mediation, circles, and victim-offender panels can help on existing decision-making processes or prepare professionals for future decisions. Victim-offender mediation includes the victim, offender, and trained mediators. In this forum, both the victim and the offender express their views and feelings about the issue in hand, and then come to a mutual agreement on how to solve the problem. The mediator is there only to facilitate the decision-making process, not favor any parties involve. In this process both the victim and the offender must be willing to voluntarily confront each other.

There are two forms of justice that the American society has come to know today. One is the traditional justice system and the other is restorative justice. The first half of this paper will provide an overview of how justice is achieved using the traditional due process system of our criminal justice system. Specifically, I will assess each step of due process, pointing out the possible outcomes of how justice is traditionally attained. I will also provide several examples of how the system has successfully delivered justice to both the offender and the victim(s).

Within the system of criminal justice, the restorative justice conferences allow the offenders, victims and their respective family members and friends to come together to explore how those involved in the incident had been affected and, when possible, to decide how to repair the harm and meet their own needs. A victim can request a restorative justice approach to help an offender comprehend and understand how the crime has affected their life, and/or other people's lives in the process, to gain information, helping put the crime behind them and aiming to come to terms/forget their experience and personal ordeal and to openly forgive the offender for their actions. Restorative Justice also aids offenders, with trials within the United Kingdom

Since ancient times, restorative and retributive practices were used. Retributive justice is oriented toward punishing the offender for breaking laws and rules. Prevention of future crimes or rehabilitation is not considered when punishing the offender. In restorative justice, the focus is mainly on the victim. Harm is amended and the offender is rehabilitated. Both of these practices are used today around the world.

Our book states that, “rather than punish law violators harshly and make them outcasts of society, peacemakers look for ways to bring them back to the community. This peacemaking movement has adopted methods and applied them to what is known as restorative justice” (Siegel, 284). Howard Zehr, a leading restorative justice scholar, believed that society needs to “address the victims’ harms and needs, hold offenders accountable to put right those harms, and involve victims, offenders, and communities in the process of healing” (Siegel, 284).

Zehr and Gohar discuss several restorative justice practices, each with models that differ on who and how it is designed for as well as the goals of the particular rmodel. Victim offender conferences (VOC) is one model of restorative justice with a primary focus on supporting both the victim and offender on an individual basis before collaborating together with a trained facilitator. Healing or therapeutic programs can play a large role in this model as the goal provides beneficial outcomes to all parties involved. Moderately contrary to victim offender conferences is family group confereneces (FGC). Offender responsibility and behavior modification is the cornerstone of this model and, as a result, offenders, their family, victims, their family,