Verified Document

Restorative Justice Individual Restorative Justice Paper: Case Case Study

Restorative Justice Individual restorative justice paper: Case study

Traditionally, the debate about the purpose of the justice system has revolved around the question of whether punishment should be retributive or rehabilitative in nature. Those who favor a retributive model stress the need for criminals to pay their debts to society and view the purpose of the justice system as primarily to punish convicts through confinement and forcing them to work. Those who advocate a rehabilitative model stress the need to reform prisoners, through measures such as education and counseling. They believe that imprisonment alone merely embitters prisoners and reinforces convict's sense of membership in an ostracized, criminal class. Also the desire for revenge, while understandable on the part of the victim, is not a base emotion that should necessarily be acknowledge by the justice system

The restorative model attempts to provide a different perspective of how to deal with criminals and criminality. The need for the person or the community who was harmed by the crime to be 'made whole' is acknowledged in restorative justice models, but the needs of the criminal to make reparations emotionally are also honored. In the case study, Mildred's home was burgled by Ed and David, leaving her feeling violated as well as upset at the loss of her belongings. Initially, through the help of the community, Mildred's home was restored to its original state, and her family gave her a place to stay while she recovered from the trauma of the...

This underlines how recovery and restitution is always a communal, rather than an individualistic process.
What is controversial about restorative justice, however, is the notion that the perpetrators of the crime become involved in the restorative aspects of the justice system, not simply helpful volunteers and friends and family. The defendant or convicted criminal will meet with the victim and decide the best way to 'make things right.' In contrast to the conventional justice system, in which a judge must hand down a sentence according to the guidelines of the law, the restorative process is organic, and evolves in the form of a dialogue between victim and perpetrator. The victim feels more empowered and in control of how the process takes shape, but speaking with the perpetrator also humanizes the perpetrator. The perpetrator learns from the experience, as he or she witnesses firsthand the damage done to another human being he or she has caused through thoughtless action. Both the perpetrator and the victim's needs are addressed. For example, David offered to pay Mildred half of what could not be recovered from the crime, which required him to get a job and gain more structure in his life. His family members offered to spend more time with David, as did his former baseball coach.

In the case of Mildred, the harm was not only done to Mildred, but also to her family, who naturally worried about her more now that her house had been burgled and who were forced to accommodate her as she recovered from the…

Sources used in this document:
Reference

Van Ness, Dan. (2009). When Ed and David broke into Mildred's house and took things.

RJ City Phase 1 Final Report. Retrieved:

http://www.rjcity.org/the-project/documents/Case%20Study%2030-10-09.pdf
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Justice As Retribution
Words: 3724 Length: 12 Document Type: Research Paper

Justice as Retribution Every individual in the globe has a perception towards crime, justice, criminals, and many other aspects in relation to criminals. On hearing the term "criminal," every individual reacts differently. There are those who feel that a criminal deserves to die, others feel they should rot in prison and many other divergent views. However, does it ever occur that a criminal can be a criminal, through a legal process

Justice of Restoration
Words: 1214 Length: 3 Document Type: Research Paper

Restorative Justice The purpose of this article was to show that restorative justice is significantly more satisfying as compared to courts for both offenders and victims. This was achieved with a randomized experimental design known as Reintergrative Shaming Experiments RISE. This project is used to compare the effects of standard court processing with those of restorative justice intervention known as conferencing. In the article, the RISE data is used to examine

Justice in the Twentieth Century,
Words: 1694 Length: 5 Document Type: Term Paper

What was particularly ironic was that soccer had always been a game for whites only: blacks were specifically not included. Of course, the movie had a happy ending when South Africa won the World Cup. But the World Cup didn't completely change South Africa. There is still high violence, prompted by economic conditions and a newly released set of citizens. A high percentage of residents also have Aids, another very

Restorative Justice Evidence Evaluation Bibligoraphy
Words: 5088 Length: 14 Document Type: Article Critique

Variations of the area court model, such as teen courts, medicine courts, and household physical violence courts, focus on specific concerns in order to establish even more extensive options. The underlying presumption of neighborhood courts is that neighborhoods are deeply damaged by the sentencing procedure yet are seldom spoken with and associated with judicial results. Correcting Community justice has actually been slowest to show up in the correctional industry. Maybe this

Restorative Justice and Religion: A
Words: 3175 Length: 10 Document Type: Research Proposal

Instead, Hadley (2001) argues that an understanding of the role of spirituality in restorative justice today can encourage peaceful communities both domestically and internationally. In fact, the spiritual component of restorative justice left lingering from its formation impacts today's attempts to practice restorative justice at the individual, communal, and international levels. In each scenario, components of spirituality remaining from the spiritual roots of restorative justice can help bring healing

Criminal Justice Systemic Malignity Racial
Words: 2221 Length: 7 Document Type: Journal

Baker reviewed three landmark Supreme Court decisions on capital punishment and concluded that the death penalty is capriciously imposed on Black defendants and thus serves the extra-legal function of preserving majority group interests. He viewed discrimination in capital sentencing as deliberate and identified the primary reasons why Black defendants with white victims have been denied fairness in capital sentencing. These are prosecutorial discretion in the selective prosecution of capital

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now