Does Restorative Justice Bring A Fresh And More Just...

DOES RESTORATIVE JUSTICE BRING A FRESH AND MORE JUST RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN OFFENDEERS AND VICTIMS? What is restorative justice? Restorative justice is the view towards crime as more than breaking the law. Restorative justice believes that crime causes harm to more than just the victim, it also causes harm to other factors such as the community, relationships and families. Therefore, a just response is required to deal with the harms and wrongdoing of the offender; a just response is a fair and candid response in the eyes of the law. If both parties are willing, they can meet to discuss the harms and how to bring about a resolution. However, there are alternatives if the clients do not want to meet. Although it is best if they do, as†¦show more content†¦Per (Liebmann, 2007), victims of crime more than often want answers as to why they were the victim, why they had their possessions taken rather than the punishment of the victim. Unlike the retributive system whereby the victim would never get answers from the offender, restorative justice provides a fresh approach. Offenders to take responsibility for what they have done Offenders believe that their crime is equaled if they serve their sentence rather than to take responsibility and acknowledge who they have hurt and the repercussions of their actions. This is the beginning of the path to restorative justice. Offenders who do not acknowledge their actions often cost the government money as they are just going to be repeat offenders if they have not learnt their lesson as they may believe what they are doing is correct. Dialogue to achieve understanding Victims of crime are often left with questions as to why it happened to them and whether it will happen to them again? For them there is only one person who can truly answer this question, the offender. However some offenders do not understand how what they have done may affect the victim. This is because they believe that the victim can claim insurance and receive it again. Therefore, by having a dialogue it will help the victim explain exactly what troubles it caused them and hopefully the offender will see the pain of their wrong doing. Usually these dialogues