Restorative Justice Process Essay

perceptions their needs become known. To address what these parties see as lacking can improve the system. What offenders and victims do seem to agree on is the benefit of the restorative drive of the process. Restorative justice can guide responses to a wider range of conflicts, including conflicts that do not involve an actual violation of law. The restorative justice philosophy as applied to schools views misconduct as a violation against people and damaging to relationships in the school and throughout the community.
Whilst participation in a Restorative Justice process or program may be taken into consideration when determining an offender’s parole, this is not the only factor taken into consideration by the Parole Board. The Parole Board is still guided by other rules relating to parole. Participation in Restorative Justice processes or programs, is only one of the many factors taken into consideration by the Parole Board and each case is considered on its own merits.
Restorative Justice is often seen as a process to address soft crime or petty crimes.
It is however important to note that Restorative Justice can be used as a process even in cases involving violence or dishonesty. What is important is the stage at which the Restorative Justice process is introduced. Each case will have to be carefully considered and an appropriate decision will be made as to whether the Restorative Justice process or program should be introduced before the charge, before the trial, during the trial before sentencing or after the sentence. The role players will also have to decide what the appropriate restorative justice processes or programs are. Petty offences may be diverted without a trial but offences that involve a level of violence may have to involve Restorative Justice Process only before sentencing or after
sentencing.

Chapter 7
Conclusion and Recommendations
1 Conclusion
The collective question asked at the start of this dissertation was that is the criminal justice system effective and or is it achieving its purpose. The justice system in South Africa succeeded in making the transition to restorative justice, especially where the protection of children and youth are concerned, of concern is the high number of rapes being committed by juvenile offenders in South Africa and this begs the question why the cultural heritage of Ubuntu is not filtering through to the community to protect women from being violated.
This dissertation identified problems within the administration of restorative juvenile justice that highlights the areas in need of improvement. When more is published from the research on restorative justice and when practice models are developed from these findings, the practitioners responsible for the implementation of the programs can be empowered with relevant information.
Research indicates that offenders who experience Restorative Justice interventions are less likely to re-commit further offences than similar offenders who are subject to more conventional interventions. Restorative Justice Processes can facilitate access to justice for victims and provide a more empowering experience for victims. It is also less time consuming and costly. It has greater possibility for restitution, compensation and giving victims a voice.
The benefiting criminal justice agencies help to reduce case back log and to prevent unnecessary cost and delay in the criminal justice system. Overcrowding in prisons and the cost to the taxpayer may further be reduced. The inclusion and participation of community in Restorative Justice Processes are strengthen and deepening our democracy.
2 Recommendations
The need for improvement of services involves the design and implementation of program standards improved communication with stakeholders and improved monitoring systems. Improved cooperation between the Criminal justice department and Social development is necessary. Although probation officers and social workers are overloaded with work these groups are in constant need for in‑service training to improve their knowledge and skill levels. It was found that the quality of child assessments needed improvement.
It can be recommended that an effort is made to design and develop an improved structured and scientifically based assessment model with associated protocols, and that staff are trained in the implementation of such a model. Another area of improvement is the departmental information system. At present this system appears to be inadequate and inconsistent in the kinds of information that it provides.