Inflicting just a measure of pain to satisfy need for justice
Restorative Justice responds
Punitive interventions: moral? effective?
What if social disapproval just makes things worse?
Professional criminal justice employees might not be best for controlling and deterring crime
Facilitated involvement of ordinary people
How can people change if they're not respected?
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Restorative Justice as process
In Retributive Justice:
Victims and offenders positioned as adversaries
Direct communication discouraged
Expected to remain passive - key decisions by professionals
In Restorative Justice:
Victim and offender meet
Victim and offender talk - face to face
Victim and offender participate in decision making
Resorative Justice meeting
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Examples of Restorative Justice Process
Victim tells offender hwo crime affected them
Helps offender to recognise that their behaviour does harm people
Helps offender to recognise extent of harm
Offenders can account for themselves
Offender can answer victims questions
Offender can offer apology and reparation
Other forms of Restorative Process
SORI Programme
Large scale operations
Whole communities
More than one offender and victim
The Global Stage
Truth and Reconciliation Comission: South Africa
Post-genocide Rwanda
Restorative Justice as goals and outcomes
Richer forms of justice (than retributive justice)
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Restorative Justice Process
Activities leading to goals and outcomes
Offenders
Repairing harm
Experiencing and expressing repentance
Being fully reintergrated into communities
Victims
Being healed of the trauma they faced
Talk Activities
Respectful and constructive dialogue
Apology
Explanation of harm
Giving victims a voice
Non-dominated speech
Peaceful cooperated dialogue
Informal communication
RJ practitioners talk of offenders, victims and crimes as if these terms were value free alternatives - conflicts, parties in dispute
Appealing to offender consciences
Strengthening relationships
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Research - Martin et al 2009
New South Wales - systematic functional linguistic approach
Alternative to court sentencing for:
Under 18s
Who have admitted guilt
Who agree to participate
Typical participants
Offender: supprt person (family, social worker)
Victim: support person
Police officer: conveyor, ethnic or indigenous community liason person, lawyer
Results
Outcome plan (by agreement) - actions needed from offender to repair harm
Provisional characterisation of elements of Youth Justice Conferences
Gathering, legal framing, comissioned recount of the offence, exploring consequences for various parties, tabling possible remedies, brokering a collective agreement, ratification of outcome plan, formal closing, dispersal
Findings
Highly visible regulative discourse with the conveyor controlling the interactions, conveyor initiates almost all interactions, interpretation of recount is jointly constructed with the conveyor introducing virtually all evaluation
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