Criminal Justice: Comparing Retributive and Restorative Justice - Essay Sample

Introduction

Since the science of defining the rules of society is the law, the criminal justice system has always been concerned about how to achieve and apply the right form of justice. There are two main conclusions to this concern: retributive justice and restorative justice (Wenzel et al., 2008). On the one hand, retributive justice is a criminal justice theory that implements justice by punishing the offender (Witvliet et al., 2008: Daly, 2002). On the other hand, a restorative justice system is a criminal justice system that aims at rehabilitating the offender and getting them back into the society (Witvliet et al., 2008: Clark, 2008). Both theories are important in maintaining law and order to society. Still, restorative justice seems to cover every dimension of crime, including the harm inflicted on the victims as well as the different ways through which the crime has affected the offender and the community (Okimoto et al., 2009). This paper focuses on the killing of John Geer by Fairfax County police officer Adam Torres from a criminal justice system approach.

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Crime Description

On August 29, 2013, John Geer was shot at the neighborhood of Springfield, Virginia. Geer was shot by a county police officer, Adam Torres, after 42 minutes of negotiation with Barnes (Jackman, 2016). Even though shot, he was unarmed as his hands were raised above the shoulders and the gun at a staircase, an area visible to the police officers. The argument upon Geer was such that they were arguing and that Geer ended up throwing her partner's belongings onto the front lawn of the townhouse at Springfield. Torres aimed the victim from 17 feet yet claimed that he acted when Geer started lowering his arms during the incidence (Jackman, 2016). However, the claims were disapproved by the other officers, including Barnes. Geer was pronounced dead as soon as the SWAT and paramedics team arrived at his house.

Research Methods

I first researched the crime by utilizing the Google search engine to find the most reputable crimes of the present times. I used the keywords "Shooting" and "Fairfax County Police" during the search as my interests. I found a series of information concerning crimes from a series of time. However, I found the most dominant to be the killing of John Geer by Fairfax County police officer Adam Torres. I went on ahead to search for further information from Google as well as google scholar and found a series of articles concerning the shootings. The story was most prevalent in the news media including in articles such as the Washington Post and New York Times. The happenings drew me closer into seeking the details of the crime and the later decision by the court.

Applications of the Models of Justice to the Crime

Retributive Justice and Restorative Justice are the two models of justice well applicable to the case of Geer's murder by Officer Torres. From a retributive justice perspective, the case appears to have the crime laying more on the state rather than the other person as with restorative justice. Additionally, the criminal justice system seemed to control the crime and also lie in the community for information concerning the murder. Besides, the punishment effected unto Torres was effective and also seemed not to be effective in changing the behavior of county police personnel. The community, including other team members such as Barnes, was also either on the sideline or working as facilitators in the restorative process. Both themes of Retributive Justice and Restorative Justice applied to the incident on August 29, 2013.

Retributive Theory

Procedural Justice

Procedural justice primarily concerns fairness as a way to resolve disputes as well as allocate necessary resources during a crime (Skarlicki et al., 1998). According to the procedural justice subset, transparency is effected during the process. From the claims of Torres, transparency is proven by the actions of Barnes. As soon as Barnes gives his opinion to the court and the general public, he maintains transparency of the information perceive during the murder. Procedural justice ensured that the outcomes were fairly made. For Torres' case, the conviction of the officer as guilty and exonerating the innocent as well as the family was a fair action to take.

Distributive Justice

For the case of distributive justice, outcomes are the primary targets. Various components of distributive justice include equality, equity, power, need, as well as responsibility (Skarlicki & Folger, 1997). Collectively, the components lead to fairness in action. Even though the case was evaluated from both perspectives, everyone was offered equal shares of their costs and rewards. The family was offered compensation, whereas Torres was convicted of murder. On the concept of power, Torres had to receive less in outcomes compared to Torres' family. Additionally, Torres' family was in great need and needed to be offered the necessary resources to compensate for the death of their loved one. Furthermore, it was the responsibility of the authorities to share the resources they had to the family as it had less in resources.

Restorative Theory

From the perspective of Restorative Justice, the offense made by Torres could be perceived as more than breaking the law (Wenzel et al., 2012). Besides, more harm than good was done, especially to Torres' daughters and the larger community during the murder. Therefore, there was a need for a just response to the crime to address the harms done as well as the wrongdoings of the officer. Restorative justice, in the criminal justice system, is primarily focused on repairing the harm caused by any criminal actions regardless of the victims or potential convicts. There was a need for a cooperative process in the case, which prompted the application of lawsuits and court actions.

From the aspect of restorative justice, the people who were most affected by the crime should participate in the case (Allais, 2011). Torres was the most affected as the case befell him, and there was a need for him to appear in court several times to issue their claims on the case. Additionally, it was the responsibility of the higher authorities to maintain order in the case, a reason why the court was involved in the murder case. Besides, the community was meant to build peace, a reason why their monetary compensation was not met fully, yet they were the affected victims of the crime. In the long run, Torres had to be released back into society after two months.

According to Restorative Justice, the offender, who is in the case Torres, had to take responsibility for their actions and also for the harm caused to the family, relatives, and the entire community. The theory also seeks to redress the victims of the crime and also recompense by the offenders through the process of integrating them back into society (Allais, 2011). In the long run, even though the case was to be escalated by both the team workers of Torres and the greater family of Torres, there were collaborative efforts that led to the restoration of the police officer into the society.

References

Allais, L. (2011). Restorative Justice, Retributive Justice, and the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Philosophy & public affairs, 39(4), 331-363.

Clark, J. N. (2008). The Three Rs: Retributive Justice, Restorative Justice, and Reconciliation. Contemporary Justice Review, 11(4), 331-350.

Daly, K. (2002). Restorative Justice: The Real Story. Punishment & Society, 4(1), 55-79.

Jackman, T. (2016). Ex-Fairfax officer Adam Torres Pleads Guilty to Manslaughter in Shooting Death of John Geer. Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/true-crime/wp/2016/04/18/ex-fairfax-officer-adam-torres-pleads-guilty-to-manslaughter-in-shooting-death-of-john-geer/

Okimoto, T. G., Wenzel, M., & Feather, N. T. (2009). Beyond Retribution: Conceptualizing Restorative Justice and Exploring its Determinants. Social Justice Research, 22(1), 156-180.

Skarlicki, D. P., & Folger, R. (1997). Retaliation in the Workplace: The Roles of Distributive, Procedural, and Interactional Justice. Journal of Applied Psychology, 82(3), 434.

Skarlicki, D. P., Ellard, J. H., & Kelln, B. R. (1998). Third-party Perceptions of a Layoff: Procedural, Derogation, and Retributive Aspects of Justice. Journal of Applied Psychology, 83(1), 119.

Wenzel, M., Okimoto, T. G., & Cameron, K. (2012). Do Retributive and Restorative Justice Processes Address Different Symbolic Concerns?. Critical Criminology, 20(1), 25-44.

Wenzel, M., Okimoto, T. G., Feather, N. T., & Platow, M. J. (2008). Retributive and Restorative Justice. Law and Human Behavior, 32(5), 375-389.

Witvliet, C. V., Worthington, E. L., Root, L. M., Sato, A. F., Ludwig, T. E., & Exline, J. J. (2008). Retributive Justice, Restorative Justice, and Forgiveness: An Experimental Psychophysiology Analysis. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 44(1), 10-25.