Reparative Justice And Restorative Justice

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Recommended: Four theories of restorative justice

According to Champion the 3 factors that indicate changing criminal justice policy toward punishing offenders are: (1) decrease in crime, (2) changing public attitudes, and (3) fiscal pressures (2007). Due to these changes restorative or reparative justice has become more popular, particularly in case of property crimes. Restorative justice can be defined as, “A philosophical framework and a series of programs for the criminal justice system that emphasize the need to repair the harm done to crime victims through a process of negotiation, mediation, victim empowerment, and reparation (West’s Encyclopedia of American Law, 2008). This thread will provide a synopsis of the 3 factors mentioned and if or how this impacts the victim’s voice.
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In May of 2012 the Missouri legislation passed a bi-partisan bill in which there would be swifter punishment to help eliminate crowded dockets. This student/advocate concedes with St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch regarding this legislation, "The whole idea is to increase the level of supervision, the level of drug treatment, the intensity of probation at the front end, restorative justice… If there 's somebody we can put on the right track and keep from going to prison, that 's what we want to do" (Young, …show more content…

Victims are an afterthought, despite the claim that restorative justice is victim centered. It is often the expectation of restorative justice programs that offenders will offer genuine apologies for what they have done. But where offenders are not sorry for what they have done, victims may feel harmed again for this failure of justice. Similarly, restorative justice appears to imply that victims are in some sense obligated to assist offenders. This distorts the hope of victims to assist themselves through restorative justice processes. Victim participation for the purpose of offender rehabilitation may be at least an unreasonable burden, if not outright

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