Implementing Restorative Justice Proposal: for the purposes of considering another course of action to court sentencing of juveniles indicted with criminal acts. I. Inadequacies and deficiencies with the present justice system A. Justice Goals are based on Retributive model as opposed to Restorative 1. Trend to sentencing 2. Lack of Offender accountability 3. Neglect of victims B. Benefits to Restorative Justice Model 1. Makes the offender take more responsibility for their part and helps the offender see the effects of their crimes 2. Provides victim and community with a sense of justice 3. Lowers the cost of incarceration 4. Emphasizes that crime is an act of one person on another not just against the State …show more content…
These type of numbers before the courts and the lack of consequences imposed for violating these orders, which is a key objective of the Youth Criminal Justice Act which suggest incarceration for these offences, suggest to me that there is a definite deficiency with the Youth Criminal Justice Acts policy on non-custodial forms of sentencing. Failing the offender Lack of sentencing youth to a jail term for administration of justice violations, to a parent telling a child no he or she cannot have cookie and then after he or she begins crying and throwing a temper receives a cookie from the parent anyway. Much like the parents giving the cookie to the child just because they want one, the lack of the courts sentencing youth to jail terms for offences against the administration justice suggests to the youth that there are no consequences for their actions if they violate their conditions. This is not only a dangerous trend but also a non-productive trend. Failing the victim and …show more content…
my final argument .Keeping it within the objectives set out in the Youth Criminal Justice Act, I would like to make mention of a Restorative Justice approach when dealing with such youth in violation of administration of justice charges. According to much research done on this topic of Restorative Justice Alternatives to sentencing, this type of sentencing has been found to be not only a viable alternative but also a productive one. This type of justice will not only cut back on the cost of using the court system but also the cost of incarcerating youth for violations of administration of justice charges. The current cost of housing the average inmates are the following according to the National Crime Prevention Centre: “The annual cost to house an adult male inmate in a federal institution ranges from $40,000 to $70,000; for juvenile inmates, the average cost is $100,000; for female inmates, it's $108,000.” Would the average community member taxpayer in society be willing to pay this money for juveniles who might be otherwise dealt with better in another way such as Restorative
Restorative justice is a very selective process, and can only truly work if both the victim and the offender agree to the terms of the conversation. In other words, strict vetting must be done on both the victim and the offender in order for restorative justice to occur. For this type of justice to actually be able to really work and bring about rehabilitation participation must be 100% voluntary otherwise it will fail. This among other things can be listed as a limitation of restorative justice. Another disadvantage is, that restorative justice cannot be implemented in all categories of crimes.
A study done by Criminal justice inspection Northern Ireland found the rate of recidivism went down when young offenders were diverted into restorative justice furthermore study concludes that people were often quite pleased with the outcome of the restorative justice(Restorative Justice Council,
In addition, this strong evidence should lead to greater formal charges in adult courts rather than juvenile courts. Adult courts offer better protection to the society and moreover, juvenile serious offenders are held accountable and responsible for their actions. Additionally, they argue that, if serious juvenile offenders with criminal history are sentenced there is the likelihood they will be a social
The Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA) was put in place to protect society and decrease the risk of crimes for young persons from ages 12 – 17. The Act, introduced on April 1st 2003, was brought in to enforce consequences for youth. The consequences were more relaxed than the previous act and they need to be made stronger, while continuing to recognize different consequences for different crimes. Methods of penalization should be used to direct the youth into adulthood and maturity. This also gives them the knowledge to know how problems or crimes are dealt with under the Act.
It is argued that greater focus needs to be placed on psychological approaches whose goal is to connect with and activate internal values within wrongdoers with the goal of encouraging self-regulatory law-related behavior in the future. The impact of restorative justice on lowering the rate of recidivism is not solely limited to participants. The criminal justice system as a whole may be significant affected by the proliferation of restorative practices (Gehm, 2003). For instance, asking questions such as what are the financial costs associated with restorative justice programming compared to traditional responses to crime? It is reasonable assume that the options now available to a police officer or crown attorney when dealing with an offender are different with the increasing accessibility to restorative justice
Restorative Justice For a long time, there have been two criminal justice systems, but now there has been a new system, restorative justice, which has grown in popularity since the 1970’s. The three systems are the retribution model, the rehabilitation model, and the new one, restorative justice. The retribution system emphasizes on punishment through the criminal justice process, and the rehabilitation process focuses the need for society to assist criminals in changing their attitudes and behavior into better habits for their future. The restorative justice though, is a system that promotes equal concern for the victims and the offenders.
Starting back in the 1700s in America, the juvenile justice system was punitive and unjust. Children as young as 8 were treated as adults and sent to do hard labor. In contrast, from the 1800s to the 1950s, social reformers were more focused on teen’s rehabilitation. Then in the 1980s and 1990s, there was yet another shift in thinking. During those decades, the number of teens who committed terrible crimes has increased a lot.
Another reason that I feel so strongly about the restorative justice program being the better approach to the justice system is because of all the benefits the program has to offer. According to Gibbs and Jacobson (2009) this approach holds wrongdoers responsible for their actions in a constructive and meaningful way that can possibly lead to a more sustaining experience of justice for the victims and their society. Usually in the end both the victims and the offenders have a high level of gratification with the practice and the outcomes. Some of the main benefits for using the restorative justice approach for victims and the offenders include the large amount of reduction in the offender repeating offending, although not all, it can help
As wrongdoing will continue to occur in society, the manner in which wrongdoers are dealt with will be debated alongside it. Hence, it is vital to have a justice process that can adequately deal with wrongdoers in a manner that incarceration has not, and in recent times, such an ideology of justice has emerged; restorative justice. This journal will divulge into restorative justice, and to do this, I shall; describe restorative, compare and contrast different types of concepts of justice, exemplify critiques, and benefits of restorative justice, and discuss the future of restorative justice. In the end, restorative justice will be clearly depicted as a tremendous process that has been far too long ignored by conventional justice practices, and in the future should be utilized more, as it has great potential to aid numerous individuals who make mistakes. To begin with, restorative justice is an attempt to address the several flaws that the criminal justice system possesses in terms of not adequately meeting the needs of each stakeholder: the harmer, the harmed, and the community (Zehr, 2015, pg.
1 In your own words, explain the difference between "retributive justice" and "restorative justice." (Don 't consult the dictionary, use the course materials!) Restorative Justice involves the process of taking into consideration the victim(s) of the crime and correcting the wrongs done to the victims and the community. The objective of the restorative justice approach is to allow the offender to take responsibility of his/her actions as well as attempting to make the offender face the victim and see the impact he/she caused. On the other hand Retributive Justice is punitive and make people “pay for what they did” (ex: send them to jail) without any victims input.
Restorative justice as an alternative solution to the problems encountered by the traditional criminal justice in the Philippines A. Concerns of restorative justice on both parties to prevent judicial corruption 1. Victim mediation and offender rehabilitation as the means used by restorative justice to promote reconciliation between the victim and the offender 2. Preventing judicial briberies by presenting justice as a
The Juvenile offender’s trial should be focused on reformation, not on punishment. Therefore, ‘Sentence juveniles to life without parole’ is completely against the Juveniles Law’s will. It must always give a second chance to juvenile criminal for reformation. As long as we share the value of juveniles, the Juvenile Law should not be abolished or amended. Otherwise, Juvenile criminal’s social problem should be fixed with another way.
Restorative justice has a role in identifying “substantial and compelling” reasons not to impose a prescribed minimum sentence. Section 73 of the CJA contains provisions related to when restorative justice is imposed as a sentence. Generally, any procedure that could be seen to resolve and restore the dignity of the offender and the victim can be imposed as restorative
Individuals share what their concerned about when they talk about the crime and they have to include the reason for why he or she perpetrated the crime. The Circle process “provides an opportunity to explain the impact the crime has emotionally and physically” (Smith, 2003). In the process individuals try to understand the offenses and the causes of the crime. Restorative Justice “shows respect to all parties- victims, offenders, justice colleagues” (Zehr, 41).
Restorative justice is about building communities of care around individuals while not condoning harmful behaviour; in other words, holding individuals accountable for their actions within systems of support. restorative justice is about addressing the hurts and needs of both victims and offenders in such a way that both parties, as well as the communities which they are part of, are healed. The focus in the case of restorative justice is on the emotional and social disruption caused by misbehaviour. The focus is not on the misbehaviour itself, but rather on the consequences of the misbehaviour.