European Model of Restorative Justice
In the European model of restorative justice (RJ), the aim is to incorporate the best interest of the offender in the justice process. One of the best ways to apply the European restorative model of justice is by creating mediation services that are voluntary to the people. This will attract people to this form of justice. The United States should ensure that the services that are offered by the mediation groups are uniform all through so that the process does not face resistance or contestation due to the discrepancy (Kinnunen et al., 2014). The services should also be available to all people who will give them the opportunity to decide the route to follow (Drost et al., 2015).
Additionally, in the United States, there should be a determination of the cases that can be mediated since not all cases carry the same weight and introduce complex cases slowly (Kinnunen et al., 2014). The US should create legislation that will make room for the victim-offender mediation as well as provide the required finances to ensure the process goes on uninterrupted. Furthermore, the legislation will be vital in establishing a procedure of conducting RJ, it will safeguard the parties that will be attending the process and create a condition where the RJ will be evaluated and ensure that the practice grows.
To guarantee the success of the process, the USA should allow for the active participation of the community, which will promote dialogue, healing, and restoration that is intended by the process (Kinnunen et al., 2014). The government should also provide education to the people on how the process works, develop, and maintain high quality and guarantee evidence-based practices in the restorative justice process (Gönczöl, 2010). The USA should also allow the organizations that champion the cause for restorative justice to thrive since they help in keeping restorative justice on the political agenda. This will renew discussions that are able to push it forwards.
References
Drost, L., Haller, B., Hofinger, V., van der Kooij, T., Lünnemann, K., & Wolthuis, A. (2015). Restorative Justice in Cases of Domestic Violence. Best practice examples between increasing mutual understanding and awareness of specific protection needs. http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.693.7708&rep=rep1&type=pdf
Gönczöl, K. (2010). European best practices of restorative justice in the criminal procedure. In Hungary: Conference Publication.
Kinnunen, A., Sambou, S., Flinck, A., & Slögs, P. (2014). Similarities and discrepancies—implementing restorative justice in Finland. Restorative Justice, 2(2), 225-231. https://doi.org/10.5235/20504721.2.2.225