Essay On Restorative Justice

Teresa Ison
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Date
The process of transforming traditional justice into restorative justice is an important one, it will help our society grow from one that focus’ on punishing “bad people” to a society that realizes that the offenders who committed the crime are people that quite often need just as much help as the victims of their offenses. While punishing the offender for the crime they have committed is important in helping the victim seek justice, restorative justice helps each party recover from the offensive behavior that has been committed. In this paper the process of transforming traditional justice into restorative justice will be discussed and the pros and cons of this transformation.
To understand the importance of transforming
traditional justice into restorative justice it is important to understand what traditional justice and restorative justice are. The definition of justice evolves over time as society evolves, but in general justice is fairness in the way people are dealt with. Justice is an important part of society; it helps promote equality and gives citizens a sense of hope and safety because when something terrible happens they believe that whoever is responsible will have to pay for their crimes and that the victims will be helped. In the end a society without justice will fall.
Traditional justice is the kind of justice most people are familiar with where two sides engage in a formal argument using evidence and courtroom rules and procedures to prove whether or not a person is innocent or guilty of a crime and if they are found guilty a punishment that is equal to the offense is given to the offender.
This kind of justice is the kind that you often see and hear about on the news, where a horrible thing happens and they take the believed offender to court so a judge and jury determine if he is guilty and what punishment is best suited for this particular situation. Traditional justice is very important because it helps determine whether or not a person is guilty before they are convicted for a crime and helps make sure the punishment is one that is fair. If the punishments are too severe it will just cause more civil unrest and disrespect for the society which will result in more crimes. On the other hand if the punishments are not severe enough the lack of perceived justice for crimes will result in a complete disregard for the rules of society, also resulting in more crimes. Traditional justice does have its flaws as well, because it does not involve the victim a lot in the process it is mainly about upholding the law and punishing the offender but once it is over the victim is left to deal with their emotional and material losses and it does not really give the offender a chance to talk to the victim one- on- one and express why they have done
the things they have done and gives them the chance to express their guilt directly to the victim and seek forgiveness so they can change their negative behavior.
Restorative justice deals with restoring individuals, relationships, and communities after the harmful offense has been committed and opens up communication between all of the affected parties, including both the victim and the offender.
Because restorative justice encourages communication between the victim and the offender and offers both of them help not only does it help the victim heal and restore whatever damage they are suffering from whether it is physical, material, or emotional it can also help the offender. When a restorative approach to justice is applied it gives the offender a chance to heal as well, giving them the tools they need to prevent the offensive behavior from happening again and also give them a chance to deal with the emotions they are feeling regarding the offense they have committed and the effects it has had on the
victim.
The main aspect of restorative justice is victim offender conferencing. Victim offender conferencing refers to the process of encouraging both the victim and the offender to accept and take ownership of the offensive situation by directly engaging with each other with a facilitator present to make sure the interaction goes smoothly and to help both the offender and the victim reach the desired results. Victim offender conferences create a more personally respective and sensitive treatment of the victim and the offender that promotes them telling their personal stories while expressing their emotions versus the traditional approach which is mainly about two sides making rational arguments to determine whether or no the offender is innocent or guilty and providing the appropriate repercussions if they are found guilty.