Themes Of Restorative Justice

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The perception of Justice being in the form that directly punishes the criminal is challenged by the approach of Restorative Justice, especially in the film Dead Man Walking. Throughout the duration of the film, the focus of Restorative Justice is demonstrated through the willingness of Sister Helen Prejean and her determination to assist a criminal on his path to redemption. The film challenges this approach of criminal justice and offers the greater and fairer one of Restorative Justice.
Dead Man Walking, directed by Tim Robbins focuses on Sister Helen Prejean, who assists a criminal (Matthew Poncelet) in finding a way to redemption. Throughout this film, the recurrent themes of Redemption and Justice are explored in the approach of Restorative Justice. The theme of Redemption was explored through Poncelet’s unwillingness to accept his role and his belief that justice will prevail through the form of the truth. Prejean’s determination to make Poncelet confess his sins and therefore begin his own path of redemption is inspired by her need to “follow the example of Jesus,” who encouraged reconciliation and redemption. Prejean’s insistence that Poncelet had to participate in his own redemption was6 illustrated through the quote; “Matt, …show more content…

The quote can be defined by many contexts such as the truth may literally set you free and could help avoid problems or that the truth could metaphorically set you free, by being truthful one is staying true to oneself. For the case of Matthew Poncelet, the truth had set him free figuratively; by accepting the true nature of his crime would have saved his ‘soul’ and had led him to be honest with himself. The quote also refers to the mental freedom that admitting his crimes would be taking responsibility for his actions which he hadn’t done before. This could be used in our daily lives to be used a tool to stay truthful and honest to be

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