Importance Of Emotional Intelligence In Restorative Justice

748 Words2 Pages

Emotions are very important to how changing how humans experience the world physically, mentally, and cognitively. Restorative justice is heavily based on how to identify one’s own emotions and balance them properly. By managing their emotions, participants of restoratives justice can help remove the negative feelings associated with the crime (Van Ness & Strong, 2002). In order to do that, participants of restorative justice must learn emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is the ability to identify and balance one’s emotions, as well as the emotions of others. Mayer and Salovey define it as:
A type of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one’s own and other’s emotions, to discriminate among them, and to use …show more content…

The scope of emotional intelligence includes the verbal and nonverbal appraisal and expression of emotion, the regulation of emotion in the self and others, and the utilization of emotional content in problem solving. (pp. 433)
Emotional intelligence in restorative justice not only falls into a method for helping mend wounds and resolve anger and fear issues after a crime has taken place, but also to prevent it. By holding emotional power over potential offenders, the community can use these emotions to seek to restore and prevent reoffending individuals. Besides positively engaging offenders, communities that practice restorative justice can also seek to shame offenders for their acts, without blaming the offender directly for their actions. One such method of restorative justice that communities utilize is the reintegrative shaming theory. Developed by Braithwaite in 1989, the theory states that societies that aim to create shame on the act of crime will reduce crime rates (Braithwaite, 2001). The theory …show more content…

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

Open Document