Restorative Justice: Repairing Crime's Effects on Perpetrators & Communities - Essay Sample

Introduction

Restorative justice is the worldview whereby crime is viewed as more than just breaking of laws, but rather as an action that breaks down families and communities. Therefore, the society must keep in mind the issues around as well as a result of crime in terms of the social results crime has on the society that it happens in.

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Therefore, crime operates on three principles, which are repairing the effects of crime on the perpetrators and the communities that they committed their criminal acts on, deciding on the encounter that they will experience during and after the criminal actions have taken place, and also transforming the society in a way that they can accept the people who committed crimes and repair the broken relationships that result from the crimes committed within the community.

Restorative justice agrees to the fact that crime causes socioeconomic harm and that justice is responsible for repairing the damage caused by criminal acts. Therefore, society at large should participate in the restoration of the relationships that were broken when the criminal acts were committed. However, the people directly and most affected by the acts should be involved in the repairing process and participate in the process of resolution of the conflicts that arise from the issues around the crime that occurred in the first place.

The police can facilitate restorative justice, although the only crimes they can facilitate are the low-level crimes that can be viewed as negligible if the perpetrator can be released instead of putting them through the crimes they committed. The court system has been found inadequate in addressing the issues that come with police brutality.

Therefore, there is a need for the society to work in collaboration with the police to restore the damaged relationship between them, hence establishing a more positive relationship through which they can address the issue of crime and come up with workable solutions to the matter. Through restorative justice, the relationship between the police and the communities that they serve can be improved through the better communication that is provided through the restorative justice process.

When police brutality is witnessed, the typical reaction by society is to protest the occurrence of the brutality on one of their own. Restorative justice seeks to address the issues that affect the relationship between the police and the community and facilitates communication between the two parties concerned, therefore restoring the relationships to the expected status. Through restorative justice, individuals and societies that have been victims of police brutality are healed from the effects of the brutality and, in the process, create room for the building of more cordial relationships between the two parties.

The use of restorative circles, which helps to bring together the perpetrators, victims, and the affected parties and discussing the effects of police brutality and the ways through which they can address the said issues and reduce chances of the same cases of brutality from occurring again. Protests against police brutality have adverse effects on the parties concerned since the communities lose trust in the police who are supposed to be responsible for their security. Also, the police are forced to respond to the protests against their violent acts on members of the society with more violence, thus creating a vicious cycle of violence.