Restorative Justice Used in Public Schools In 1977, a psychologist by the name of Albert Eglash first coined the word restorative justice while working with incarcerated people. He believed that it was a way to focus on the needs of the victims and the offenders as well as getting involved in the community. Restorative justice is a peaceful approach to addressing harm, violations of legal and human rights, and problem solving. Although restorative justice has been the main focus point in Schools in the U.S., it is also used in the juvenile system and in schools outside of the U.S. Schools across the country have adopted multiple approaches under the restorative justice umbrella to transition away from their traditional punishment …show more content…
“Over 1,124 persons have attended sensitisation sessions across the Jamaica in September,” said Minister of Justice Delroy Chuck. For example, in Asia, restorative justice is mostly used in juvenile discipline and on peacemaking for their divided society. Most of the other countries located in Europe and Africa use restorative justice in schools, but most of the time it’s used in criminal justice and foreign affairs. Though to some people, restorative justice isn’t the key to helping improve our school systems. They believe that corporal justice should be used more for physical discipline would teach the students not to do it again vs restorative which they believe is expensive and ineffective; “restorative justice is great and all, but I’m more of a fan of “if you can make it sting, you can make it stop (Forge).” The truth is that, restorative justice has made an impact in public schools for decreasing dropout rates and suspensions. Multiple statistics have shown that not only in the state of Texas, but also in California, Washington, and Florida. Texas statistically saw a major drop in both expulsion and suspensions in their public schools in the past two years. Since restorative justice uses a “talk it out” form of problem solving, then the victim will not be fighting since they are using words to explain your situation and hopefully finding even …show more content…
Though it would cost a little extra to pay for training individuals in the art of Restorative Justice, the outcome would be well worth it. The country needs to get rid of corporal justice in the nineteen states, since physical discipline might have worked back in the early 50s and 60s, but in today’s society, we have different kinds of individuals that need to be helped through talking and not beating. Schools need to show compassion to the victims rather than turn them away at a moment's notice. In most schools, if the victim attempts to defend himself or throws a defensive punch, then he will get three days of out of school suspension or close to the same punishment as the tormenter, which is an unfair, since all he was doing was defending
Lorraine Stutzman Amstutz states how schools that claim they are following restorative approaches through their policies in discipline are not necessarily restorative, but have enough flexibility to allow a restorative response.
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.
Restorative Justice is a new way of thinking about and responding to crime, especially in relation to youth offending. For the past decade, especially, there has been an increasing interest in new approaches towards criminal justice in general but more so in terms of juvenile delinquency and finding an appropriate form of punishment to escape the labelling of youth delinquency, which involve the community and focus much more on the victim.
A growing number of probation officers, judges, prosecutors as well as other juvenile professionals are advocating for a juvenile justice system which is greatly based on restorative justice. These groups of people have been frustrated by the policy uncertainty between retribution and treatment as well as unrealistic and unclear public expectations. As a primary mission, the balanced approach or policy allows juvenile justice systems together with its agencies to improve in their capacity of protecting the community and ensuring accountability of the system and the offenders . It enables the youths to become productive and competent citizens. This guiding philosophical framework for this policy is restorative justice as it promotes the maximum involvement of the community, victim, and the offender in the justice process. Restorative justice also presents a viable alternative to sanctions as well as interventions that are based on traditional or retributive treatment assumptions. In the policy proposal for restorative justice, the balanced approach mission assists juvenile justice system in becoming more responsive to the needs of the community, victims, and the offenders . Therefore, this paper considers how restorative justice reduces referrals of juveniles to criminal and juvenile justice systems and gives a proposal on the implementation of restorative justice in the community together with a number of recommendations. For instance, preliminary research reveals that application of restorative justice in schools significantly reduces school expulsions, suspensions, and referrals to the criminal justice systems. Restorative justice programs are an alternative for zero-tolerance policies for juveniles or youths .
Restoration Restorative justice is based on bringing together the victim, the offender, and the community; all have equal parts in repairing the relationships destroyed by
This voluntary alternative gives the offender the opportunity to take responsibility for their actions and identify the impact they have had on their victim, while also giving the victim the chance to confront the offender and take steps to repair the harm done. The victim can ask the offender questions about the crime and the offender may apologise or make amends for their actions. Restorative justice is confrontational and can be difficult for both parties but is proven to help both the offender and victim. While it is confrontational for the victim, for some it can be better than testifying in court. Data shows that restorative justice greatly helps victims in their recovery from the offence. Although the benefits of restorative justice in adult offenders is unclear, it significantly reduces the number of reoffenders in youth. For this reason, restorative justice is mostly used for minor infringements and within the youth justice system.
The response from these offenders is of remorse; understanding of the effect on their victims, as well as an understanding of the potential effect continued criminal behavior could have personally. Does restorative justice work if implemented early on in our judicial system and will it have an effect on recidivism? Will this restorative approach work for violent crimes and will restorative justice reduce recidivism in violent criminals? Sherman et al. (2015) concluded that restorative justice, specifically RJC’s are effective in reducing recidivism as well as costs to criminal justice systems amongst willing participants, which is the foundation of the restorative justice process, the willingness of all involved. However is this restorative process feasibly possible with violent criminals without regard to the cost effectiveness and solely to the ideal of reducing repeat offenders. Sherman and Strang (as cited by Braswell, McCarthy and McCarthy, 2015) state, “…these programs show promise for reduced recidivism and increased victim satisfaction, even with violent offenses” (p. 174). The mere fact that offenders are given the opportunity to address, provide reparation through actions, and amend for their behavior is proving to be an aspect of justice that more judicial systems are willing to evaluate and possibly
The concept of restorative justice became a game-changer in juvenile justice system. Through the course of time, professionals explored every possible methods and approaches that could positively affect the children without the expense of harming their future and wellbeing. The idea of restorative justice is “administer justice that focuses or repairing the harm done to the victim and the community. (Save the Children-UK, 2005)” The four guiding principles are to: (1) Repair and restore the balance within the community. (2) restitution for the victim. (3) Ensure that the offender understand and take responsibility. (4) Help the offender to change and improve. In South Africa, this is practiced in their community throughout
When looking at the Criminal Justice system there are so many different elements make up the system to create a whole, it is sometimes hard to grasp every element. Throughout history people and governments alike have tried to figure out cost saving yet efficient strategies to keep offenders from reoffending and out of jail. Restorative justice is one of these elements; created to focus on the rehabilitation of offenders through reconciliation with victims and the community at large. Within the realm of restorative justice there are many different types of procedures and programs from alternate dispute resolution to veteran trauma courts and everything in-between. Not everyone will agree that these specialty courts and procedures
Since the beginning there has been many crimes that have had severe consequences. These crimes are crimes such as rapes, genocide, murder, and aggravated assaults (CITE). The Restorative justice system tries to help individuals that have committed some of these crimes. Some of the Restorative justice system founders are John Braithwaite, Howard Zehr, and Mark Umbret .The Restorative justice system emerged in 1970 (CITE). The Restorative justice system is a response to crime and wrongdoing that emphasizes the repairing of the harm that was created, recognizes the importance of victim, offender, and community involvement, and promote positive future behavior (CITE). Restorative justice is a response to what was considered to be an overly harsh
Restorative justice is an alternative community based program for juvenile offenders. Instead of sending juvenile offenders to jail or punishing them, they are taught
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
Walgrave, Lode. Restorative justice for juveniles: potentialities, risks and problms for research : a selection of papers presented at the international conference Leuven, May 12-14, 1997. Leuven: Leuven University Press, 1998.
When Mary Catherine Parris was told that I would be talking to her about restorative justice, her response was, “Is that a real thing?” (personal communication, September 23, 2015). Through this assignment I realized that restorative justice is not talked about within the criminal justice system. For both of the individuals I spoke with, the idea of restorative justice seemed like a joke. In trying to persuade them both that restorative justice is a real thing, I was met with very similar beliefs and comments from both individuals. They both believed that restorative justice would not work and believed that some aspects of the approach were completely useless (M. C. Parris, & R. Clemones, personal communication, September 23, 2015). The responses
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