The Importance Of Restorative Justice

“When people collectively come together and strategize and plan, working together and acting together, they create a power that they can effectively use in their situation to effect change.” (Rev. Dr. James Lawson, Jr.) This quote draws upon the essence of Restorative justice as it involves community building, reconciliation, and peace making. Restorative justice can be best described as an effective and unique way to address problems between both the victim and the offender. Restorative justice is a problem solving approach that brings the community, the victim, and the offender closer together and allows healing for those affected by the crime to move on with their lives. It has several aims such as holding the offender accountable for what

he/she have done, allows them to understand the real impact of what they've done, and lets them communicate and take responsibility for what they have done. Currently in Canada there are four types of Restorative Justice approaches. They are classified as “victim-offender mediation, conferences, circles, and justice committees.” This approach is beneficial as it results in restoring ties between both the victim and the offence, and is now an alternative use to incarceration and other forms of punishment. Restorative justice is a fairly new concept and style of thinking in criminology. It was developed in Canada thirty years ago, and came to be through an experiment conducted by justice officials and members of the community, who were searching for an efficient way to respond to crime. In 1996, the criminal code began to encourage the use of restorative justice to find further solutions to crime not only in everyday society but more specifically in aboriginal communities. The restorative justice model can furthermore be often associated with the the traditional criminal justice model, however they both differ from one another. The traditional justice model focuses on what laws have been broken, who did it, and what punishment do they deserve. Whereas Restorative justice looks at who has been hurt, what is the victims needs, and whose obligation are these. Nevertheless when considering the restorative justice model, I argue that it does in fact successfully address the perceived failure of the retributive justice model. It furthermore can be associated with the failures of the retributive justice system, the excessive use of incarceration, and the over representation and colonization of aboriginal peoples.
Prior to the restorative justice system becoming increasingly common within the criminal justice system, the main approach to crime was through the traditional justice system. Traditional justice can be defined as justice through the imposition of punishment. Punishment in the name of justice means that the offenders have to accept punishment as deserved, therefore punishing offenders in order to restore justice. There are various advantages and disadvantages associate with the traditional justice system. To begin with, there are three main advantages to the traditional justice system. It keeps criminals off the streets, as traditional justice condemns crime at hand. Therefore expressing the unacceptability of that crime for society. As it condemns the offence not the offender. In contrast to restorative justice which solely seeks to improve the offender not the offence. Additionally, it upholds the classic definition of justice, which is giving people what they deserve, and fulfils justice. It further satisfies peoples anger towards criminals, knowing that they are off the streets and are given the offence they deserve. Whereas restorative justice simply seeks to rehabilitate the offender taking away from the definition of justice. Furthermore, theres higher rates of incarceration, which people could view as a positive. More prisons will be needed which will create more job opportunities for those in the community. Which is different from restorative justice as it means lower rates of incarceration less jobs in prison. Aside of the advantages there are several disadvantages. Foremost, it fails to stop crime, leading to higher rates of recidivism. Which ultimately means a tendency of relapse into criminal behaviour. Traditional justice is not concerned with the stopping of crime, as criminals are punished with no thought put in to what they will do afterwards. Whereas restorative justice focuses on the rehabilitation and addresses this issue. Attempting to remove their incentive to crime, and helping them understand their offence. Furthermore, it is not proactive as it’s simple focus is on punishment. By focusing simply on crime in the past rather than the present it fails to be proactive in dealing with criminals. Whereas restorative justice attempts to provide an approach that not only deals with crimes in the past, but crimes in the future as well. Equally it fails to improve the offender. Traditional justice is not concerned with this aspect. They have expectations that the criminal will improve him or herself. Allowing the offender to commit more crime. In contrast to the restorative justice system which takes a more realistic approach when dealing with the criminals.
Restorative justice uses a culture based approach towards indigenous people through first nations cultures and values.

According to the 2004 general society survey (GSS) aboriginal people are three times more likely than non aboriginal people to experience a violent victimization. Due to the limited comprehensive data surrounding these issues, restorative justice plays a role as the proper response and healing key preventing us from overlooking further aboriginal issues. Aboriginals have different attitudes towards the criminal justice system in comparison to non aboriginal peoples. Aboriginal people are more likely to have contact with the police for serious manners, whereas others may simply make calls for small issues. Furthermore, they have lower levels of satisfaction with the system as theres not much focus on aboriginal cases. It is unfortunate that there is an over representation within our criminal justice system. Indigenous people are highly over represented as offenders in homicide incidents. Economic and societal factors play a role in the over representation of indigenous peoples. Factors such as low education, unemployment, low income, and single parent families all contribute. A major factor however that is believed to be the strongest risk factor for offering and victimization is age. Young offenders view professionals with higher levels as authority as careless people within the criminal justice system. This also contributes to factors such as cultural

differences, however with regards to aboriginal sex offenders, through research we can conclude that “mainstream services that treat the general population of sex offenders have the least success with aboriginal peoples.” ( C. Baskin p. 134) With the use of the traditional justice system it is evident that it will prevent change, and not benefit the offenders or victims. As a result it is important to realize the significant role of restorative justice plays within the aboriginal community. Restorative justice is a concept of healing, rather than simply responding to the crime itself through traditional justice. One major restorative approach which evolved from the first nations communities in Canada was the circle approach. Aside from Circle Sentences, healing circles are being used as a method to deal with conflicts. These healing circles go through a process of sitting in a circle and allowing each and every person to speak. Within these circles they often provide advice and reassurance for those in need. The circles involve the victims, the offenders, their families, justice officials etc. whom are able to discuss and get closure through an efficient restorative approach. This restorative approach benefits the aboriginal people, as silence is broken, creating room for apologies, and attempt amends. In cases such as sexual abuse the circles “show the offender that the community regards the safety of children as it’s first priority.” (C.Baskin p.135) This restorative approach is powerful among the aboriginal people, as it brings forth justice.
There are several differences in regards the approach to justice involving both the traditional and restorative justice system.

Although both have differences, restorative justice is a much more practical approach to crime in contrast to traditional justice. The traditional justice system views crime as an act committed against the state, and an offence of the law. Whereas the restorative justice approach views crime as an act not only against the victim but the community as well. It is important to realize that each approach controls crime differently. Restorative justice believes that crime control lies mainly within the community, while traditional justice demonstrates that the criminal justice system is in control. With respect to the community, traditional justice believes that crime should solely involve the state, and that crime is an individual act. Contrasting restorative justice which believes that the community should be involved and crime is not an individual act as there are societal factors that contribute. Restorative justice focuses on the offender taking responsibility, and to repair harm, whereas traditional justice is simply defined as taking punishment and not focusing on the victim. As victims in a traditional manner are not essential to the process, however when looking at it from a restorative point of view the victims are the central focus of the process to resolving crime. When focusing on crime, is it important to not only acknowledge the past but

the future as well. Restorative justice focuses on problem solving, and takes into account future crimes and what should be done to stop them. The traditional justice system solely focuses on the past, emphasizing on details such as who committed the crime, and where to put the blame, and what punishment he or she deserves as the offender. Through these points it is evident that restorative justice can in fact drastically reduce future crimes, and allow room for further justice. However, even though restorative justice can be looked upon as a positive like any other approach it has it’s limitations.