How Does Restorative Justice Work
DOES RESTORATIVE JUSTICE WORK?
The aim of this essay is to be able to explore what restorative justice is and how it has been developed in different places, showing if it works. There can be no doubt that restorative justice is now part of the criminal justice system in the United Kingdom and many other countries such as Canada, Australia, the United States, South Africa and New Zealand. The essay is going to be in three parts: Part I will provide an introduction to the ideas of restorative justice and explore its central propositions, claims and critiques made on behalf of restorative justice; Part II will provide the forms and model of restorative justice practice, indicating how they developed, explaining the ideas and principles embodied …show more content…
The claims made on behalf of restorative justice are simultaneously instrumental, incremental, and grand:
_ Restorative justice enhances understanding of the root causes of crime and conflict;
_ Outcomes reached in restorative justice are more likely to be complied with;
_ Restorative justice processes reduce recidivism rates;
_ Restorative justice offers the possibility of reclaiming, repairing, and transforming individual wrongdoers and reintegrating them into productive activity;
_ Participants in restorative justice processes are more likely to develop fellow-feeling, empathy, and a sense of moral responsibility, mutuality, and reciprocity;
_ Restorative justice processes enhance community building, community norm development, and democratic participation by increasing the number of stakeholders who are involved in its deliberations;
_ Restorative justice permits more real, less formal, less stylized or legal human communication and interaction, producing more authentic …show more content…
There are empirical claims that restorative justice does not meet its own claims (Braithwaite 2002, Daly 2002, Van Ness 1993); philosophical and sociological claims that humans continue to carry base retributivist and vengeful motivations that are impervious to so-called transformative processes (Acorn 2004); legalistic claims that restorative justice unfairly coerces and manipulates its participants to forgive (victims) or confess and accept harsher terms (offenders) than legal rights and rules would permit in formal justice institutions and that restorative justice does not deliver equitable or equal justice (Dolinko 2003, Delgado 2000); anthropological critiques that concepts in restorative justice ideology are culturally specific and not universal (Avruch & Vejarano 2001) and that notions of community are social constructs and can be manipulated for bad ends (Weisberg 2003); and political claims that restorative justice processes will be manipulated, corrupted, co-opted, and deformed to produce oppression, more state surveillance and discipline, and more inappropriate social control (Abel 1982, Levrant et al. 1999).
In addition to these critiques, specific critics have suggested that, like civil
The aim of this essay is to be able to explore what restorative justice is and how it has been developed in different places, showing if it works. There can be no doubt that restorative justice is now part of the criminal justice system in the United Kingdom and many other countries such as Canada, Australia, the United States, South Africa and New Zealand. The essay is going to be in three parts: Part I will provide an introduction to the ideas of restorative justice and explore its central propositions, claims and critiques made on behalf of restorative justice; Part II will provide the forms and model of restorative justice practice, indicating how they developed, explaining the ideas and principles embodied …show more content…
The claims made on behalf of restorative justice are simultaneously instrumental, incremental, and grand:
_ Restorative justice enhances understanding of the root causes of crime and conflict;
_ Outcomes reached in restorative justice are more likely to be complied with;
_ Restorative justice processes reduce recidivism rates;
_ Restorative justice offers the possibility of reclaiming, repairing, and transforming individual wrongdoers and reintegrating them into productive activity;
_ Participants in restorative justice processes are more likely to develop fellow-feeling, empathy, and a sense of moral responsibility, mutuality, and reciprocity;
_ Restorative justice processes enhance community building, community norm development, and democratic participation by increasing the number of stakeholders who are involved in its deliberations;
_ Restorative justice permits more real, less formal, less stylized or legal human communication and interaction, producing more authentic …show more content…
There are empirical claims that restorative justice does not meet its own claims (Braithwaite 2002, Daly 2002, Van Ness 1993); philosophical and sociological claims that humans continue to carry base retributivist and vengeful motivations that are impervious to so-called transformative processes (Acorn 2004); legalistic claims that restorative justice unfairly coerces and manipulates its participants to forgive (victims) or confess and accept harsher terms (offenders) than legal rights and rules would permit in formal justice institutions and that restorative justice does not deliver equitable or equal justice (Dolinko 2003, Delgado 2000); anthropological critiques that concepts in restorative justice ideology are culturally specific and not universal (Avruch & Vejarano 2001) and that notions of community are social constructs and can be manipulated for bad ends (Weisberg 2003); and political claims that restorative justice processes will be manipulated, corrupted, co-opted, and deformed to produce oppression, more state surveillance and discipline, and more inappropriate social control (Abel 1982, Levrant et al. 1999).
In addition to these critiques, specific critics have suggested that, like civil