The key members at restorative conferences are the victim, the offenders, and their communities of care. There is no single united meaning of restorative conferencing. Dr. Mark Umbriet (2011), states that victim offender mediation conferencing is the oldest and most widely used form of restorative justice throughout the world. There are restorative justice programs in over 1,300 communities and 17 different countries (e.g. Umbriet, 2011). The restorative conferencing emphasizes those most directly affected by the crime. In Umbriet’s (2011) video, it stated that a multi-method approach is often most helpful. This is for a more victim sensitive and cultural sensitive approach to adapt the process to expressed needs of the person who was victimized, …show more content…
Critical values include: “primacy of victims, offenders, and communities of care; collective responsibility; social justice; and cultural flexibility” (Bazemore & Schiff, 2001, p. 176). The values underlying restorative conferencing offer primacy to the interests of those most influenced by offending including- victims, offenders, and their communities of care. Restorative conferencing accentuates the presence of shared values that can be utilized to address the offending and its outcomes and to reintegrate victims and offenders at the local community level. Restorative values emphasize human rights and the need to perceive the effects of social or substantive injustice (Bazemore & Schiff, …show more content…
A definitive goal of restorative conferencing is expanding the odds of the reintegration of victims and offenders into the community by reestablishing connectedness, lessening reoffending, and healing the victims’ harmed. Restorative conferencing stresses tending to such injustice acts in little ways as opposed to just giving offenders lawful or formal justice and victims with no justice by any stretch of the imagination (Bazemore & Schiff, 2001). Dignan and Cavadino (1996), describe restorative justice conferencing in four characteristics:
(1) the delegation of powers from the state to members of the community; (2) the convening of a meeting to which supporters of victims and offenders are invited as a mechanism for arriving at a negotiated community response; (3) the empowerment of the offender and his or her family through formulating a plan that is acceptable to the other participants; and (4) monitoring of those plans (Bazemore & Schiff, 2001, p. 190).
American Model of
Addresses obligations resulting from those harms (the offenders’, but also the communities’ and the societies).
According to Graham, reconciliation is both “… a goal in the sense that it aims to restore relationships or to promote agonism or mutual tolerance, respect, and dignity […] [And] it is a process because it requires multiple modes, steps, stages, and transformations across all levels of society and amongst all stakeholders in a conflict” (Graham 2015). Through reconciliation and the related processes of restorative justice, parties to the dispute explore and overcome the pain brought on by the conflict and find ways to build trust and live cooperatively with each other. Restorative justice seeks to have a positive impact on offenders by confronting them with the consequences of their actions and delineating their responsibilities, giving them both the opportunity to repair the damage caused to the victim and to work on finding a solution to their problems (Umbreit, Bradshaw and Coates, 1999). According to Philpott, there are six components of political reconciliation: building socially just institutions and relations between states, acknowledgement, reparations, punishment, apology, and forgiveness (Philpott
Restorative justice is defined as “using humanistic, no punitive strategies to right wrongs and restore social harmony” (Siegel, 2008, p. 189). Instead of imposing harsh penalties on offenders like long prison sentences or even the death penalty, restorative justice calls for a more rehabilitative approach, such as reconciliation and offender assistance.
The Youth Criminal Justice Act has many concerns creating inequalities in the restorative justice approach. For instance, juvenile delinquents who develop from a background that is impoverished may lack the ability to satisfy the reparative objectives of punishment and may not be ready to be reintegrated back into socie...
Restorative justice can be defined as a theory related to justice that is concerned on repairing the harm that is caused or revealed by a criminal behavior (Barsh 2005: 359). Over the years, restorative justice has been seen as an effective way of dealing with both social as well as cultural issues of the aboriginal people. Because of these, restorative justice is used in many of the local communities in an effort to correct criminal behavior. This concept is seen as a conceptualization of justice which is in most cases congruent with the cultural and the community values of the aboriginal people. There is growing body of evidence which suggests that there are a number of challenges which accrue the effective implementation of restorative justice amongst the aboriginal people.
A. Community Justice and Restorative Justice –Restorative justice is an alternative to traditional court processing in that it seeks to involve offenders, victims, and ...
There are better ways to punish criminals and protect society than mass incarceration. The state and local governments should be tough on crime, but “in ways that emphasize personal responsibility, promote rehabilitation and treatment, and allow for the provision of victim restitution where applicable” (Alec, 2014). The government also succeeds in overseeing punishment but fails to “…take into account the needs of offenders, victims, and their communities.” (Morris, 2002: Pg. 1 and 2). Alternatives to incarceration, such as sentencing circles, victim offender mediation, and family conferences, can successfully hold criminals responsible while allowing them a chance to get “back on their feet”. Research has proven that rehabilitation has lowered the rate of re-offenders, reducing the crime rate, protecting communities and also saves a lot of
Meanwhile, with the pressure of budge shortfalls, rehabilitation increasingly becomes to be one of the most effective way to place offenders. Restorative justice is a criminal rehabilitation system that aims to reduce recidivism rates. In Minnesota and Vermont, restorative justice programs have been implemented as a rehabilitation tool, rather than abolishing imprisonment. The main idea is that offenders could benefit from reduced sentences by completing programs (Immarigeon, 1995). Drug rehabilitation is one of the programs that have been proved to be effective on reducing recidivism rates. The programs include the “in-prison treatment” , “the work release program” and aftercare program. It is reported by the Federal Bureau of Prisons that drug offenders accounts for a large part of prisoners housed in federal prisons, which is about 52.2 percent (Rosansky, n.d.). In the study, it is found that more than 75 per cent of offenders who complete the programs do not recidivate. The reason why this program succeeded is that the policy makers target the potential collateral consequence that it is difficult for prisoners to reintegrate into society after the
For example, implicating restorative justice regimes in communities when dealing with petty crimes becomes more useful and does not waste resources. Restorative justice can easily be used in communities where we are trying to reintegrate individuals, by using a restorative justice based intervention instead of incarceration, communities can build and create norms to help keep the peace. With the help of restorative justice, societal transformations can occur, due to funds being used towards communities, we may be able to change on going issues which will help negate violence and deviancy. Once the notion of decarceration commences, Jacobs (2007) talks about how we can slowly release individuals into society, by using alternative sentences and probation (pg. 699). Decarceration also does not contribute to conflict theft, which is when the harms done are mediated by lawyers and courts and take away these harms as their own property, instead it will lap back to the victim and offender so they may take control of the matter at hand (Christie, 1977, pg. 5). By eliminating courts and lawyers regarding criminal deviancy, we can concentrate with dealing with certain harms within the community. For example,
As the purpose of restorative justice is to mend the very relationship between the victim, offender, and society, communities that embrace restorative justice foster an awareness on how the act has harmed others. Braithwaite (1989) notes that by rejecting only the criminal act and not the offender, restorative justice allows for a closer empathetic relationship between the offender, victims, and community. By acknowledging the intrinsic worth of the offender and their ability to contribute back to the community, restorative justice shows how all individuals are capable of being useful despite criminal acts previous. This encourages offenders to safely reintegrate into society, as they are encouraged to rejoin and find rapport with the community through their emotions and
This approach has introduced a criminal justice policy agenda. In the past, victims to criminal activities have been outsiders to the criminal conflict. In recent times, many efforts have been made to give the victims a more central role in the criminal justice system. Some of these efforts were introduced a few years back, though even at that time, these efforts were seen as long overdue. Some of these efforts include access to state compensation and forms of practical support. For advocates of restorative justice, crime is perceived primarily as a violation of people and relationships, and the aim is to make amends for all the harm suffered by victims, offenders and communities. The most commonly used forms of restorative justice include direct mediation, indirect mediation, restorative cautioning, sentencing panels or circles and conferencing. In recent...
However Wilson (2007) argues that formal methods of social control such as the criminal justice system are merely there to control and segregate delinquents and offenders who have not had adequate socialisation, which is where social mores are learnt and when conformity is produced, and that an alternative form of social control such as restorative justice might produce more effective results. The concept of restorative justice was heavily shaped by the work of John Braithwaite (1989) who in turn was inspired by indigenous practices in New Zealand and Australia, whereby the significance of family values was recognised and introduced into criminal and restorative proceedings in helping the offender be reinstated within society (Newburn, 2007).... ... middle of paper ... ...
I have discovered that victim offender conferencing is a process of restorative justice that is both for helping and restoring the victim as well as helping rather than further harming the offender. There are a few main sections to the process and those sections help to make the process as successful as possible. The main sections are when the case of offense is referred to the option of victim offender conferencing, getting both the victim and the offender to agree to the process and then preparing them, the actual conferencing, and finally the follow-up. The process can go in any mixture of directions. The directions are really determined by the motives of the parties to join in on the process in the first place.
Pros of the restorative justice system are that it brings parties together in crime. Instead of a short term goal, the restorative justice system takes a long-term approach to reducing crime and violence using different kinds of methods. In restorative justice programs, offenders work with others affected by their criminal actions. Restorative justice promotes instilling positive behaviors in young criminals and teaching long-lasting changes in behavior to prevent future crimes. There also could be negative consequences from the restorative justice system. For restorative justice to work, criminals and their victims must communicate about the crime and its consequences. Since violent crimes often leave victims feeling helpless and vulnerable, encouraging communication can result in increased anxiety and fear. Additionally, communication might breach confidentiality for victims of violent crimes, such as rape and assault, because they must discuss the outcome of the crime and how it has impacted
Johnstone, G. and Ness, D. (2007) Handbook of Restorative Justice. USA: Willan Publishing. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/the-big-question-what-are-the-alternatives-to-prison-and-do-they-work-419388.html [Accessed 01 January 2014].