MOVING BEYOND RETRIBUTION FOR CRIME... TO RIGHTING HARMS DONE AND TO HEALING RELATIONSHIPS
WHAT IS RESTORATIVE JUSTICE?
To answer that question, it’s helpful to consider different types of justice. Today, retributive justice dominates our legal sy
stem. At its core, retributive justice considers punishment, if proportionate, to be the best response to crime. When an offender breaks the law, justice requires that he/she forfeit something in return, often resulting in incarceration.
In contrast, restorative justice emphasizes the importance of responding to human needs. It’s an approach that includes all of the people who have been impacted by a crime (offender, survivor, family, community). While punishment is not ruled out for the offender, especially for safety reasons, restorative justice focuses on restoration. Survivors take an active role in the process of addressing and dealing with what’s happened. Offenders are encouraged to take responsibility for their actions, “to repair the harm they’ve done. The restorative approach also aims to help the offender to avoid future offenses.
Restorative justice is not a program. Rather, it is a way of looking at crime. The table below outlines differing approaches to justice:
Retributive Justice |
Restorative Justice |
| Crime is an act against the law, a violation of a law, an abstract idea | Crime is an act against another person and the community |
| The criminal justice system controls crime | Crime control lies primarily in the community |
| Offender accountability defined as taking punishment | Accountability defined as assuming responsibility and taking action to repair harm |
| Crime is an individual act with individual responsibility | Crime has both individual and social dimensions of responsibility |
| Punishment is effective:
· Threats of punishment deter crime · Punishment changes behavior |
Punishment alone is not effective in changing behavior and is disruptive to community harmony and good relationships |
| Victims are peripheral to the process | Victims are central to the process of resolving crime |
| The offender is defined by deficits | The offender is defined by capacity to make reparation |
| Focus on establishing blame or guilt, on the past (did he/she do it?) | Focus on the problem solving, on liabilities/obligations, on the future (what should be done?) |
| Emphasis on adversarial relationship | Emphasis on dialogue and negotiation |
| Imposition of pain to punish and deter/prevent | Restitution as a means of restoring both parties: goal of reconciliation/restoration |
| Community on sideline, represented abstractly by state | Community as facilitator in restorative process |
| Response focussed on offender’s past behavior | Response focused on harmful consequences of offender’s behavior; emphasis on the future |
| Dependence upon proxy professionals | Direct involvement by participants |
