They have to make an effort to “set things right, and make amends for their violations.” (Maiese, 2003) They commit to serve their community with the crimes they have done. Communities have been impacted by the “repairing of healthy relationships that are between individuals and communities” (Maiese, 2003). that come in form of restitution or community work. The “restoration of healthy relationships that are between individuals and within the communities” (Maiese, 2003). Restorative justice makes efforts to compensate for the crime. In order to promote healing communities must know where the crimes are likely to take place and help offenders who have been harmed. It examines the causes of violence and crime. Offenders too have suffered harm …show more content…
It involves the community in the decision making process. The circle involves everyone from the victim and offender to the victim and offender’s family and helps with healing process and the power to understand conflict or action. “Reinforcing healing gives empowerment to the community and to be involved in deciding what is to be done in the case and to address the problems that may have led to the crime.” (Smith, 2003) Listening to others and sharing your part is what the circle is designed to show. 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 demands that we value our enemies and the people who are not like us and respect them all. This commitment teaches us “of our interconnectedness but also of our differences. Respect insists that we balance concern for all parties. If we do no respect others, we will not do justice restoratively”
Circle Justice focuses on healing the offender, victim, and community whereas other various justice forms focus on punishing the offender. Some of the goals of Circle Justice include: Promoting healing for all affected parties. Providing an opportunity for the
Some benefits reduce crime victims’ post-traumatic stress systems and it reduces crime victims’ desire for violent rage against their offenders. It also reduces repeat offending for some offenders although not all. Circle Justice has many benefits but It also has lots of weaknesses such as how its inability to prevent potential for uneven or discriminating outcomes for sentencing and restitution, it encourages perpetrators of crimes to restore the harm they created. In US Criminal
A “truth and reconciliation model involves providing a public forum for survivors/victims to testify to the events of their victimization and for offenders to admit previous wrongdoing, take responsibility, and ask forgiveness”(Colvin & Hill, 2020). This process provides the survivors/victims to be heard and share their traumatic experiences and to allow the offenders to take responsibility for their actions and correct the wrong they did. Both sides contribute to healing and growing. Survivors/victims are able to heal through confronting their offender and understanding why their offender behaved the way they did while the offender is able to learn and grow from their mistakes. They do recognize that this process is only in the beginning of what they hope will turn into a system that will be implemented in all states and countries.
Offenders who are fortunate enough to experience these programs have showed significantly lower rates of recidivism than those who do not receive any reintegrative support. One of the prime examples is Circles of Support and Accountability; by working directly with sex offenders in a safe environment, helping them share their voice, and equipping them with tools to succeed in society, these offenders, “had a significantly lower rate of any recidivism (11.4%) compared with controls [offenders who did not experience a circle process] (38.6%). They also… had a significantly lower rate of sexual recidivism (2.3%) compared with controls (13.7%)” (Clarke et al, p. 21). These programs are imperative in helping offenders build up confidence and self-esteem so that they can reintegrate properly and safely into their community.
This healing process allows the offender to repair the already completed harm. This includes meeting victims’ needs and placing emphasis on the offenders' ability to contribute to those reconstruction processes. Furthermore, we see how restorative justice empowers victims as they search for closure, the ability to portray admiration by the influence of human impact through their behavioral growth, and the stimulated restitution to the victims and communities. A perfect example of this would be the film when watched in class about the Canadian coffee shop that had been robbed and the offender came back to put on an amazing dinner for the community. The goals were to raise money for the coffee shop by repaying for the losses, individual growth, and restoring trust within the community.
If the criminal justice system is effective, it should be able to reduce the rate of recidivism by providing appropriate punishment, rehabilitation, and support to offenders. High rates of recidivism suggest that the criminal justice system is not effectively addressing the underlying causes of criminal behavior or providing adequate support to help offenders reintegrate into society. This can result in a cycle of crime and punishment that is not only costly to society, but can also perpetuate social inequality and lead to further criminal behavior. Reducing recidivism requires a multifaceted approach that includes not only punishment, but also education, job training, mental health and substance abuse treatment, and other forms of support that can help offenders address the underlying causes of their criminal behavior and reintegrate into society. By reducing recidivism, the criminal justice system can help to create safer communities, reduce the burden on the criminal justice system, and promote greater social justice.
This type of justice system is designed very differently when compared with the retributive justice system. The restorative justice system endeavours to bring the victim and the offender together and allow them to speak with each other in the hopes to support the healing process. It will enable the victims to express themselves to the offender and lets the offender apologize and express their feelings to the victim. The restorative justice system often offers the victims of crime closure. The system encourages both parties to reveal themselves to each other and develop a solution for the future to satisfy both parties involved.
Traditionally, crime has been viewed as a violation against the state. Still too little attention is given to the fact that criminal acts are also violations of the victims and the communities. Punishing and correcting offenders’ criminal behaviors should not only be conducted using the concepts of retribution, incapacitation, and deterrence, it should also be designed to repair the damages done to the victims and the communities. Many benefits are associated with shifting to the restorative justice model, for the victim, the offender, and the community. Restorative justice benefits the victims by giving them a voice regarding the accountability of the offender.
The Effectiveness of Restorative Justice Proponents of restorative justice contend that it is more likely than retributive justice to reduce the incidence of crime because of its central concern for the safety of victims. The studies have demonstrated that restorative justice can have a reductive effect in certain cases and can change the behaviour of offenders. On the whole, however, there is more evidence that restorative justice is effective in reducing either the frequency or severity of reoffending for juveniles than in the case of adult offenders. Conclusion and
Facilitators guide the discussion by introducing the Sycamore tree program, what crime means, responsibilities, confessions and repentance, forgiveness, restitution, towards reconciliation, and celebration in attempt to improve the offender’s quality of life (Brigg, Chadwick & Griggers, 2012). Victims and offenders are encouraged to discuss the crime by sharing letters and contracts that
Seventy- seven percent of all people that were in prison end up going back within five years. The Circle Justice system is when you, your victim, your parents, and parole officers come together to talk about your feelings, and discuss your punishment. A strength of circle justice is that it gives victims a voice because some victims feel helpless other the crime. Another strength is it helps with the healing of everyone involved.
Restorative Justice processes are likely to reduce criminals from repeating offenses, as numerous recidivism studies have demonstrated. Thus, it would be more than justified to employ restorative processes a response to crimes under
Today our justice system has a multitude of options when dealing with those who are convicted of offenses. However, many argue that retributive justice is the only real justice there is. This is mainly because its advantage is that it gives criminals the appropriate punishment that they deserve. The goals of this approach are clear and direct. In his book The Little Book of Restorative Justice, Zehr Howard (2002), illustrates that the central focus of retributive justice is offenders getting what they deserve (p. 30).
Discussion 1_ Going Straight Explanation of the Four “H’s” as they Relate the Society Bartollas & Miller (2014), identify four key components that are critical to facilitating a juveniles’ ability to turn their lives around for the better. These four essential components included habilitation, healing, hope, and honor. Habilitation involves teaching juveniles to respect the system and abide by its principles and conventions. It helps juveniles appreciate the importance of living productively within the community, and assist the juvenile become a better citizen in order to be released into the community.
The shortcoming of this approach is that it is not appropriate for more serious crimes such as rape and murder, because in cases like those, most of the time there is nothing that offenders can do to restore the loss or make things right The benefit of this approach is that all parties who are involved get the chance to face each other. The victims get an opportunity to be directly involved in the process and get a chance to respond to the crime committed against them. The offender becomes aware of how their offense has impacted the victim, and this in turn allows the offender to take responsibility and to apologize or show remorse to their wrong doings. Through the process healing is promoted to all the parties involved, the offender might be required to pay for the harm caused.