dealing with offending behaviour:restorative justice Flashcards
(7 cards)
Changing the emphasis
Historically, a person convicted of a criminal offence would have been regarded as having committed a crime against the state. In contrast, restorative justice programmes switch the emphasis from the needs of the state (to enforce the law and punish) to the needs of the individual victim (to feel compensated in some way and come to terms with the crime).
In doing this the method of treatment seeks to be a healing process, as John Braithwaite (2004) suggests, ‘crime hurts, justice should heal!
Restorative justice is less about ‘retribution’ (i.e. punishing the offender) and more about reparation’ (repairing the harm they have caused).
The aims set out above mean that restorative justice seeks to focus on two things:
• The victim (or survivor) of the crime and their recovery. (The term ‘survivor’ is preferred.)
• The offender and their recovery/rehabilitation process.
key features of the programme
Restorative justice programmes can be quite diverse but most share key features:
• Trained mediator supervises the meeting.
• Non-courtroom setting where offenders voluntarily meet with survivors).
• Can be a face-to-face meeting or conducted remotely via video link.
• The survivor is given the opportunity to confront the offender and explain how the incident affected them. This enables the offender to comprehend the consequences of their actions, including the emotional distress it caused.
• It is important that there is active rather than passive involvement of all parties in the process wherever possible.
• The focus is on positive outcomes for both survivors and offenders.
• In addition, other relevant community members may have a role in the process, such as neighbours, friends, family members. They may all wish to explain the effects of the crime.
sentencing and restitution
Restorative justice may occur pre-trial (and the offender’s involvement may be considered during sentencing). It could also function alongside a prison sentence, or as an alternative to prison (especially if the offender is young) or as an incentive to reduce the length of a sentence.
In its traditional sense, restitution is often seen as a monetary payment by an offender to the survivor for the harm resulting from the offence. Therefore, an offender may make some financial restitution to the survivor which may reflect the psychological damage caused or the actual physical damage, in the case of a break-in for instance. Other variations of the scheme may involve the offender repairing damaged property themselves.
However, the idea of restitution, or paying back, can also be in a more emotional sense. The offender can support the healing process by repairing and rebuilding the survivor’s confidence or self-esteem.
restorative justice council
The Restorative Justice Council (RJC) is an independent body whose role is to establish clear standards for the use of restorative justice (or restorative practice as the RJC refers to it) and to support survivors and specialist professionals in the field.
The RJC advocates the use of restorative practice beyond dealing with crime. It can be used in preventing and managing conflict in many areas including schools, children’s services, workplaces, hospitals and communities.
strength-needs of the survivor
One strength of restorative justice is that evidence suggests it has positive outcomes.
The Restorative Justice Council (Shapland et al. 2008) reported the results of a major seven-year research project. The headline figures are impressive:
85% of survivors reported satisfaction with the process of meeting their offender face-to-face and 78% would recommend it to other people experiencing a similar situation. About 60% of survivors felt the process had made them feel better about the incident - enabling them to feel closure and to ‘move on. Only 2% said it had made them feel worse.
This suggests that restorative justice achieves some of its aims, helping survivors of crime cope with the aftermath of the incident.
Counterpoint Not all research is overwhelmingly positive. William
Wood and Masahiro Suzuki (2016) argue that restorative processes are not as survivor-focused as often reported in satisfaction surveys.
Indeed, the researchers say that restorative justice processes can become distorted, such as when survivors of crime are ‘used’ as a way of helping to rehabilitate offenders, rather than being helped themselves.
This suggests that the needs of the survivor in restorative justice may be seen as secondary to the need to rehabilitate offenders.
S-recidivism
A further strength is that restorative justice does seem to lead to a decrease in rates of reoffending (recidivism).
A meta-analysis of ten studies by Heather Strang et al. (2013) compared offenders who experienced face-to-face restorative justice schemes with those who just experienced custodial sentencing. The restorative justice group was significantly less likely to reoffend. This reduction was larger in offenders convicted of violent crime than crimes against property. Similarly, a review of 24 published studies by Kristin Bain (2012) found lowered recidivism rates with adult offenders, especially when using one-to-one contact rather than general community involvement.
This suggests that restorative justice has a positive impact on reoffending; maybe more so for some types of offence than others and some approaches.
L-abusing the system
One limitation of restorative justice is that offenders may abuse the system.
The success of restorative justice programmes may hinge on an offender’s intentions being honourable - that is, they must be taking part because they genuinely regret the hurt caused and they want to make amends. However, Hubert Van Gijseghem (2003) suggests that offenders may use restorative justice for all kinds of reasons: avoiding punishment, playing down their faults, even taking pride in their relationship with the survivor using direct contact (face-to-face or in writing).
This would explain why not all offenders ultimately benefit from restorative justice and go on to reoffend.
