16.4.4 Restorative Justice

• Restorative justice (RJ) refers to the processes by which both offender and victim may find some sense of ‘closure’ and reconciliation beyond the restrictions of the prison regime
• RJ is rehabilitative in aim and intent rather than punitive as it allows the victim to speak about the impact of the crime on them personally which in turn should enlighten the offender as to the harm that their actions have caused
• RJ allows crime victims to take an active role in dealing with what happened to them i.e. they don’t have to feel victimised but instead they are encouraged to feel that they are controlling the narrative by facing the offender and engaging with them in a constructive way (which is much more empowering than simply feeling that a bad thing has happened to them)
• The offender in turn may feel that they are not just a ‘number’ in the criminal justice system: their sense of self and autonomy comes to the fore during RJ sessions and forces them to focus on how they have ended up in prison 
• The offender should begin to understand that their actions have consequences and that they can choose their actions (which is in turn empowering for them as, prior to this experience, they may have felt that they had no choice but to turn to crime)
• The key elements of the RJ process can be summarised as the five Rs as follows:
  • Relationship: the offender has damaged the relationship not only with the victim but with society so it is necessary for the offender to feel accountable for their actions so that the relationship can be healed
  • Respect: all participants in the RJ process should show respect towards each other - even if this is difficult at times - and this is achieved via active listening and trying to understand the perspective of the other person
  • Responsibility: the offender must take responsibility for their actions, even if the harm inflicted on the victim was unintentional
  • Repair: the offender must do what they can to repair the damage they have done (either practically and/or emotionally) and the victim must banish thoughts of revenge and punishment and instead embrace positive moves forward (which could involve forgiveness)
  • Reintegration: the offender becomes part of the community and is accepted by that community with the emphasis on positive, active outcomes 
• RJ can be conducted face-to-face or via letters or other remote means
• The offender may attempt to make amends via replacing money stolen from the victim, helping them to repair what they broke during a burglary or other less tangible reparations e.g. helping out on a community project

Restorative Justice seeks to benefit the victim, the offender and society as a whole.

Research which investigates restorative justice

• Sherman et al. (2007) -  review of research into RJ across several countries including the UK, USA, Australia and Canada found that RJ reduced recidivism in offenders who had been convicted of violent crimes  
• Latimer et al. (2005) - a meta-analysis of studies that compared RJ to traditional offender rehabilitation programmes found that  RJ is more effective, but as the participants were all self-selecting that this could bias the findings somewhat

Evaluation of restorative justice

Strengths

• RJ is inherently flexible: it can be amended, modified or shaped to fit each crime/victim/offender
• Victims’ mental health improved after they had voiced their emotions and to expressed the impact that the crime had had on their lives Sherman and Strang (2007)

Weaknesses

• RJ is not appropriate or suitable for all types of crime: in cases of domestic abuse the offender coming face to face with the victim may perpetuate the trauma for the victim and give the offender another chance to assert power and dominance over the victim
• RJ is expensive, time-consuming and requires a highly skilled, trained mediator to run the sessions thus it is unlikely to be available to everyone who needs it

Link to Issues & Debates:

Restorative justice takes an idiographic approach i.e. one size does not fit all. The process of RJ will be tailored to the needs and situation of each case and may vary, change direction or take unexpected paths per RJ session/cycle.