Pros of Restorative justice
Restorative justice is a vital rehabilitation method dealing in crime that brings together a lawbreaker with the families of their victims to discuss the aftermath of a crime incident (Lobster, 2010). Most importantly, restorative justice focusses on the necessary steps that can be taken to amend any residual harm that an offender has left to the family and community of a victim. Restorative justice program is mostly practised in developed countries such as Canada, Australia, United Kingdom, New Zealand and the United States. Primarily, any restorative justice program is aimed to deal with any harmful conduct or wrongdoing on the offender’s part, which is not classified as a felony or criminal act (Lobster, 2010). Essentially, restorative justice is substantial is reducing high rates of recidivism which focusses on punishing an offender as opposed to attending to the general harm experienced by the family and community of a victim. Moreover, restorative justice is aimed at preventing an out-of-control correction system in the society that severs relationships in a society and may lead to even higher crime rates.
The primary importance of restorative justice is to redirect the modern society’s retributive response to criminal acts. Essentially, restorative justice views any criminal incident as a wrong against another individual as opposed to being a depersonalized breaking of the law (Lobster, 2010). Accordingly, any restorative justice program seeks to establish a rapport between a crime victim and an offender by holding the lawbreaker accountable for their misdeeds and try to restore any material and emotional losses to the victims through negotiation, problem-solving and dialogue. Most importantly, restorative justice views any law-breaking process more comprehensively than the judicial system, which analyses how offenders harm communities, victims and themselves by their wrongdoings. Restorative justice seeks to go beyond condemnation and punishment for an offender to addressing causes and consequences of a crime which helps promote healing, accountability and justice (Lobster, 2010). The core values of the process are to encourage collaboration and peace-making approach to any criminal act. Fundamentally, restorative justice provides a safe and controlled environment for all affected parties to share their opinions and feelings and decide on how to deal with the aftermath of a crime.
In any restorative justice program, the terms values and process are inseparable because the central core values help determine the process while from the process, the values are made visible (Lobster, 2010). The most important value of any restorative justice program is participation which indicates the much-needed presence of all the affected parties. Moreover, other core values such as respect, honesty, humility, interconnectedness, empowerment, hope and accountability are essential to forming the crucial rapport for an offender and the crime victim (Lobster, 2010). Any successful restorative justice program would create some form of absolution for a lawbreaker while helping a crime victim to heal and come to terms with the happenings of a crime.
Restorative justice program is an integral part of any justice system correctional endeavours by reconciling an offender with the victims of a crime. Essentially, restorative began in the 1970s as the “Kitchener experiment”, and over the years various experimental programs were adopted across different jurisdictions of developed countries in North America and Europe. For example, in New Zealand is an essential element of the country’s justice system as a mandatory pre-sentencing option for offenders which helps to relieve any build-up emotions. Primarily, restorative justice programs are used in non-criminal justice environments such as neighbourhoods and schools to settle disputes.