Restorative justice is the alternative of retributive justice. Peaceful approaches are employed in restorative justice to solve disagreements, violations, and conflicts to the social order. It is understandable that virtually all victims of huge crimes are left bitter and sad. To them, retributive justice to the offender is the only way they can be appeased. A case where a loved one is brutally murdered in cold blood by another criminal is very painful to the victim family. To such a family, a death sentence for the offender is the only way they can realize justice has been done. The thought of meeting the offender to talk over anything may sound quite crazy. However, restorative justice has been proved to be quite effective to both parties through empirical research. The family, in this case, study, should consider meeting the offender to have restorative because such a move will be quite beneficial to the parties, particularly the victims.
Restorative justice programs normally focus on various issues that include:
- Responding to the suffering and trauma affecting the victims;
- Issues of stigma and remorse;
- Responsibility and accountability of the offender;
- Forgiveness;
- The association among victims, the offenders, and the society;
- Acceptance of the offender back into the community;
- Justice for the harm done to the victims.
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A lot of people within the society view values and morals to be the same. Values, also referred to as ethics, are the standards set in the community that then determine the way the behavior of its members is considered to be either right or wrong. Ethical standards and values may be at the workplace, in the social circles or at the national levels (Waller, 2006). Morals are the outcome of an individual's beliefs and life choices. The process of making decisions about what is right or wrong, fair or unfair depends on a person's morals.
Some of the vital theories of morality, which have much relevance in this case, include utilitarianism theory. According to the theory of utilitarianism, what is good for the majority of the population is considered to be morally good. Another relevant morality theory, in this case, is the moral courage theory. Ethics is based on the moral courage theory. According to the theory of moral courage, a person is required to make a very firm commitment to the principles that are ethical (Barnett, 1977). This firm commitment has to be made despite the encounter of animosity, personal risks, stigma, shame, loss of reputation and isolation by other people for the stance taken. In essence, this theory of moral courage encourages people to make tough moral decisions despite the harsh consequences that it may come with later.
Restorative justice and restitution are concepts that are always concerned with the needs of the victims and offenders in a given crime as well as the community at large. Restorative justice and restitution are not aimed at just fulfilling the principles of any legal process such as punishment to the offender, but ensure both the offenders and victims are made to accept what happened for peace to prevail (Umbreit, 1989). The justice theory, which informs restorative justice and restitution, views wrong deeds and crime as offensive to the community and the victims.
It is vital for people to live in peace and harmony. Restorative justice and restitution seek to eliminate animosity and hatred among people within the society. Restorative justice does not seek to benefit the offender in any way, but simply to bring people together as the victims heal and move on, and the offenders accept the responsibility for their wrong deeds (Strong, 2013).
There are ethical issues, which are related to this concept of restorative justice and restitution. One ethical issue is forgiveness. The other ethical issue is the fact that crime affects the individual victim, but not the state or nation (Umbreit and Kalanj, 1994). The final ethical issue is on whether the offenders have to be given a second chance to correct their behavior and be accepted back to the society.
There are some implications of restorative justice and restitution. The implications include a high level of accountability as well as the responsibility within the community (Rosenberg, 2005). Moreover, it causes restoration and improvement of previously destroyed relationships hence helping avoid future harmful offenses regarding retaliations and revenge. Therefore, restorative justice brings about trust and safety among people of a given society.
The approach to the decision of allowing for the meeting between the family and the offender will involve prior counseling sessions for the victims to help build their confidence and accept the loss. Moreover, the family will be exposed to people who have been a victim of the same crime before and chose to have restorative justice and restitution for the purpose of advice.
The decision-making steps involve calling for a family meeting, where every member will present his or her opinion based on the theory of moral courage and the right values. A member of the Victims' Rights Group will then be contacted to provide information regarding the conditions under which the meeting will be held and explain the reasons for it as given by the offender. A final meeting of the family should then be called to analyze the benefits and disadvantages of each of the two options, which are either meeting the offender or refusing. The right decision should be to meet the offender. Some of the questions to ask the offender include:
What made the offender commit the heinous act?
Did the deceased deserve the death?
What would the offender have done if he or she was in the victims' position?
References
Barnett, R.E. (1977). "Restitution: A new Paradigm of Criminal Justice," Ethics. An International Journal of Social, Political and Legal Philosophy Vol. 87, no. 1.
Rosenberg, M. (2005). Speak Peace in a World of Conflict: What You Say Next Will Change Your World. Encinitas, CA: Puddle Dancer Press.
Strong, K.H. (2013). Restoring justice: An introduction to restorative justice. Boston: Newnes.
Umbreit, M.S. & Kalanj, B. (1994). Victim meets offender: The impact of restorative justice and mediation, (pp.53-64). Monsey, NY: Criminal Justice Press.
Umbreit, M.S. (1989). Crime victims seeking fairness, not revenge: Toward restorative justice. Federal Probation, 53(52).
Waller, I. (2006). Less law, more order: The truth about reducing crime. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger.
