Role Of Community In Restorative Justice

A community is made up of individuals who feel connected. Communities hold a sense of belonging and connection (Elizabeth Elliott, 2011, p.192). Therefore, communities play a significant role in criminal justice in particular restorative justice. Restorative justice recognizes the social aspect of human beings and focuses on citizen participation. This essay will explain the role of the community in restorative justice. Elizabeth Elliott (2011, p.199) saw community involvement as the opportunity to tell stories, relationship building and create accountability. The role of the community involves strengthened social ties such as concerns for others, promoting common good through voluntary cooperation such as telling the truth and being connected.

Restorative justice provides discussion and repairing harm through victim, offender and community participation. The restorative justice approach provides opportunities for interpersonal growth. Therefore, it can be considered to be the helper principle (Burnett & Maruna, 2006, p.84). Restorative justice is non-punitive and humanistic (Dzur, 2003, p.280). Reintegration requires offenders taking responsibility for their actions (Dzur, 2003, p.287). If offenders do not take responsibility they will go back into the community and reoffender. Restorative justice wants offenders to take responsibility for their actions. The first step to successful reintegration is taking responsibility for one’s

If restorative justice has support by the community, this demonstrates that the community wants to help the offender reintegrate. Communities have the resources to reduce crime and promote the social well-being of others (Faulkner, 2003, p.294). Therefore, the community has a lot of responsibility to acknowledge and help offenders successfully reintegrate back into society. In turn, the community will flourish and demonstrate strong unity. For example, offenders that received help from the community had lower rates of recidivism (Burnett & Maruna, 2006, p. 88). This evidence suggests that community involvement can deter further crime. Help should not solely depend on the criminal justice system rather there should be services such as victim support groups (Faulkner, 2003, p.303). Help from others such as volunteers from the community can be beneficial. Community involvement can bring awareness and help to local offenders