Journal of Social and Political
Sciences
ISSN 2615-3718 (Online)
ISSN 2621-5675 (Print)
Published: 28 May 2024
Can the Potential of Restorative Justice Ever Be Fully Realised Within the Criminal Justice System?
Gustavo Henrique Holanda Dias Kershaw
Centro Universitário Maurício de Nassau, Brazil
Download Full-Text Pdf
10.31014/aior.1991.07.02.493
Pages: 130-135
Keywords: Criminology, Restorative Justice, Criminal Justice, Alternative Models, Criminal Justice System
Abstract
This article will look at the context in which restorative justice emerged, analysing its main characteristics and examine how restorative justice differs from conventional models. While recognising its positive aspects, this article explores some of the criticisms that show how the potential of restorative justice cannot be fully realised within the criminal justice system. It is argued that the ideals of restorative justice do not seem suitable for all types of crimes, all societies and all cultures. In addition to that, restorative justice empowers individuals, weakening the State, presupposes voluntariness from people involved in the conflict, something that does not always occur, and has a barrier that is difficult to overcome, that is social expectations around criminal justice.
References
Beven, J. P. et al. (2005) ‘Restoration or Renovation? Evaluating Restorative Justice Outcomes’, Psychiatry, psychology, and law, 12 (1), pp. 194–206.
Braithwaite, J. (1999) ‘Restorative Justice: Assessing Optimistic and Pessimistic Accounts’, Crime and Justice: A Review of Research, (25), pp. 1–127.
Braithwaite, J. (2014) ‘Evidence for Restorative Justice’, Vermont Bar Journal, 40(2), pp. 18–27.
Christie, N. (1977) ‘Conflicts as property’, British journal of criminology, 17 (1), pp. 1–15.
Daly, K. (2016) ‘What is Restorative Justice? Fresh Answers to a Vexed Question’, Victims & offenders, 11 (1), pp. 9–29.
Garland, D. (2001) The culture of control: crime and social order in contemporary society. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hamilton, M. (2021) ‘The Benefits and Limitations of Restorative Justice Conferencing’, in Environmental Crime and Restorative Justice. Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 157–180.
Hoyle, C. (2017) ‘Victims, the criminal process, and restorative justice’ in Liebling, A., Maruna S., and McAra L. (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Criminology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 398–425
Johnstone, G. (2011) Restorative justice ideas, values, debates. Abingdon: Routledge.
Ministry of Justice (2014) Restorative Justice action plan for the CJS for the period to March 2018 Available at:https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/375581/restorative-justice-action-plan-2014.pdf (Accessed: 07 September 2021)
Morris, A. (2002) ‘Critiquing the Critics - A Brief Response to Critics of Restorative Justice’, British journal of criminology, 42 (3), pp. 596–615.
Roach, K. (2000) ‘Changing punishment at the turn of the century: Restorative justice on the rise, Canadian journal of criminology and criminal justice, 42 (3), pp. 249–280.
Rossner, M. (2017) ‘Restorative justice in the 21st century: making emotions mainstream’, in Liebling, A. et al. (ed.) The Oxford handbook of criminology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 967–989.
Saulnier, A. and Sivasubramaniam, D. (2015) ‘Restorative Justice: Underlying Mechanisms and Future Directions’, New criminal law review, 18 (4), pp. 510–536.
Van Ness, D. W. and Strong, K. H. (2015) Restoring justice: an introduction to restorative justice. London: Routledge.
Wood, W. R. and Suzuki, M. (2020) ‘Are Conflicts Property? Re-Examining the Ownership of Conflict in Restorative Justice’, Social & legal studies, 29 (6), pp. 903–924.
Zernova, M. (2016) Restorative justice: ideals and realities. London: Routledge.