The movie “Sleepers” is about four young boys between the ages 13-14 who commit a serious crime by accident. In this paper I will argue why the boys should be dealt with under the Restorative Justice System, and not under the Retributive Justice System. I will also talk about how they would be dealt with under the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA). The four boys are clearly very upset with themselves because they let what they thought would be just a fun prank turn into a violent crime.
Summary:
Four kind hearted boys that live in Hell’s Kitchen with hard family lives, broken homes and spousal abuse turn to street antics and volunteering as altar boys to escape. Father Bobby an ex convicts turned priest watches out for the four boys and tries
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The Restorative Justice System focuses on problem solving, liabilities, and obligations. It focuses on the future instead of the past. It would help the boys take responsibility for their actions and be able to restore the crime they committed in the community. The four boys are also first time offenders, which also plays a huge factor because you can see they never intended for what they did to turn out so bad in the end. For the Restorative Justice System you have to be first time offenders so that they are able to help you. Under the Retributive Justice System it focuses more on establishing guilt. The four boys would have to take the punishment. There would not really be room for forgiveness and they would not be able to restore the crime they committed in the community. Typically the crime committed matches the sentence given.(Youth at Risk and Youth Justice., November 15, 2015). Since the boy’s crime was pretty serious the boys would be sentenced with negative consequences. This is why the boys should be dealt with under the Restorative Justice System over the Retributive Justice