Touching Spirit Bear

Restorative Justice plays an important role in the Youth Criminal Justice System. The theme of restorative justice runs throughout the Youth Criminal Justice Act and can be seen in the requirements dealing with victims of youth crimes. As stated on page 12 of the Touching Spirit Bear novel, Garvey quotes, “Everybody is part of the healing, including people from the community-anybody who cares. But healing is much harder than standard punishment. Healing requires taking responsibility for your actions.” In my opinion, youths who have broken the law should be given a second chance, by the way of the principles of Circle Justice, because it heals instead of punishes, teaches them to take responsibility for their own actions, and orients them for the future. For many years, I find that the current justice system is inadequate in terms of dealing with offenders, victims and communities in the outcomes of crime. The modern civilization insists on treating harmful behavior and attitude with punishment. The current criminal justice system is seen as retributive, concentrating only on fixing the blame and guilt. On the other hand, Restorative Justice claims that victims should have a greater role in determining the outcome of their situation. The first approach to healing is to be responsible. Restorative justice provides young people with an opportunity to take responsibility for their behavior and repair the damage done to the victim. Furthermore, this can help them to realize the full impact of their actions. The healing process requires the offender to recognize the harm they caused and to accept responsibility for their actions. Nonetheless, wrongdoers must make changes to help the victim and the community, similar to what Cole Matthews did at the end of the novel. Restorative Justice recognizes and understands that focusing on the guilt and blame will not resolve the problems and help an offender go forward in life. Punishment and consequences are not the themes of Circle Justice or Sentencing Circles. They do not make youths remember their past mistakes. Instead, they want to balance their wrongdoings by helping those they hurt, both the victim and community. This adjusts the youth’s vision towards the future rather than the past. In conclusion, I strongly believe that youths should be given a second chance if they have broken the law. If youths only had the choice to go to prison, it would have a negative impact on the entire community. In addition, the offenders will most likely commit more crimes down the road during his lifetime. Thus, I am satisfied that youths have the opportunity to be given a second chance to change their way of life through the healing process of Circle Justice.