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Defined Terms
Restorative Justice
or
Restorative Justice
Model
means promoting the restoration of relations between the community, the offender
and the victim.
Restorative Justice aims to repair the harm caused by crime rather than
an absolute focus on punishing
the offender.
What is restorative justice? - The Norwegian
American · Linn Chloe Hagstrøm -
6 SEPTEMBER 2016
A restorative criminal justice system focuses on the rehabilitation
of offenders
through reconciliation with victims and the community
at large. This forms the base of the Norwegian criminal justice
system. Norwegians view their penal system in terms of
rehabilitation (rather than retribution), following the notion that
the closer you are to the society you are going back to, the less
challenging it will be to re-integrate upon release.
Restorative justice views crime as more than breaking the law – it also causes
harm to people, relationships, and the community. So a just response must
address those harms as well as the wrongdoing. If the parties are willing, the
best way to do this is to help them meet to discuss those harms and how to about
bring resolution. Other approaches are available if they are unable or unwilling
to meet. Sometimes those meetings lead to transformational changes in their
lives.
Notice three big ideas:
(1) repair: crime causes harm and justice requires
repairing that harm;
(2) encounter: the best way to determine how to do that
is to have the parties decide together; and
(3) transformation: this can cause fundamental changes
in people, relationships and communities.
A more formal definition is this: Restorative Justice is a theory of justice
that emphasizes repairing the harm caused by criminal behavior. It is best
accomplished through cooperative processes that allow all willing stakeholders
to meet, although other approaches are available when that is impossible. This
can lead to transformation of people, relationships and communities.
The foundational principles of restorative justice have been summarized as
follows:
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Crime
causes harm and justice should focus on repairing that harm.
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The people
most affected by the crime should be able to participate in its resolution.
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The
responsibility of the government is to maintain order and of the community
to build peace.
If restorative justice were a building, it would have four cornerposts:
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Inclusion of all parties
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Encountering the other side
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Making amends for the harm
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Reintegration of the parties into their communities
The Father of
Restorative
Justice
chronicles that Captain Alexander
Maconochie was likely the first exponent of Restorative Justice due to
his treatment of very hardened criminals at Norfolk Island almost 200 years ago,
which is the basis of the 1st Prong
of the
Living Outside the Cell model.
Captain Alexander
Maconochie certainly had his opponents of his seemingly 'soft'
treatment of inmates during an era of vicious physical punishment evidenced in
Corporal Punishment
previously sentenced in Australia.
Doubtless, today, there are opponents of
Four Gears of Early Rehabilitation and Release,
particularly
amongst proponents of
Tough on Crime that have little
understanding of
Warehouse Sentencing in some western
countries, driven by
Penal Populism, has failed Dozenly.
But are more intent with 'audience ratings' and the sound of
their own voice.
Below are two quotes from:
Internet of incarceration: How AI could put an end to prisons as we know them
- ABC News - 14 Aug 2017:
"That element of "normalcy", argues Professor
Larson, forces criminals to reflect on their own behaviour and guilt, rather
than to see themselves as victims."
"He believes
that Halden in Norway could be used as a role model
for change — but not, he maintains, until Anglosphere countries get over their
focus on retribution above reform."
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