Restorative Justice Process
Restorative justice acknowledges that crime id crime causes injury to the community. Therefore, in insists that justice should fix these injuries. For this to succeed, all the parties involved are permitted to participate. The victim, the offender, and other members of the society become the center of the criminal justice system, with legal advocates and facilitators aiding in accountability of evidence presented.
The process’ first phase begins with the victim, offender and community meetings. In these meeting, victim-offender mediation, family or community group conferencing and sentencing circles are discussed. Victim Mediation provides a victim with an opportunity to meet his or her offender face to face. Family or community conferencing entails bringing together the victim, offender, families, friends and key supporters of both with an aim of deciding the aftermath of the crime. Sentencing circles entail adapting strategies that are designed to develop a consensus among victims, supporters, community member, prosecutors, facilitators, police, and offenders to close the case.
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The next phase involves repairing the harm caused by the prime. There are two main methods that are used, restitution or community service. If an offender chooses restitution, they must compensate all the financial losses that the victim incurred because of the crime committed against them. If the offender chooses community service, they engage in work that benefits the community over a delegated period.
How crime in the case study had effects that went beyond harm to the immediate victim
The crime that David and Ed did against Mildred made her neighbors think and appreciate their safety. Since anyone could have been a victim of the crime, many people were involved in finding out the truth. David and Ed’s action forced community members to make sacrifices to help Mildred. For example, Betty had to accommodate Mildred for her safety, the neighbor and her neighbors had to organize how they would provide meals for Mildred in her troubling times. Though they were acts of kindness, they were also inconveniences that could have been avoided.
How restorative justice process differs from contemporary criminal justice
Restorative justice is different from contemporary criminal justice in several ways. First, it views criminal justice more comprehensively. Unlike contemporary criminal justice that sees crime as simply breaking the law, it goes a step further and seeks to uncover how offenders harm victims and members of the community. Secondly, it involves numerous parties when responding to the crime. Therefore, the accuracy of evidence and guidance provided enables the situation of the actual crime to be understood by everyone in detail. In the contemporary justice system, the only parties are the government, offenders, witnesses, and victims. Therefore, it is a structured and straightforward approach, making it ineffective in uncovering some hidden truths. Finally, restorative justice measures success differently. The focus is to repair or prevent harm caused by crimes. However, for contemporary justice, the focus is how much punishment should be inflicted on the offender for their crimes to rehabilitate them sufficiently.
Reflection on how the restorative justice process benefited David, Mildred, and the community
After the restorative justice process, Mildred had the opportunity to meet some of her neighbors. One particular neighbor that they became close with was Barbara, who introduced Mildred to her son Aklilu. When Mildred started babysitting Aklilu occasionally, she stopped feeling depressed and dependent unlike before the crime happened. She also made friendships with her neighbors that lasted even when she was moved to a nursing home. David realized that some things were irreplaceable when stolen. He bought Mildred an anniversary clock as a gift to show how sorry he was and often visited her to talk when things became tough. He also became the coach of a little league by inspiring children in the next generation to overcome challenges they often face in life. Finally, the restoration justice process allowed Ed to meet with Frank. In his moment of need, Ed reached out to Frank, who directed him how he should get rid of substance abuse in his life. Later, he became a responsible husband and father.
