What is Restorative Justice?

Restorative justice has taken center stage in many country's judicial systems. The concept of restorative justice perceives crime not only as an act of breaking the law but also that which harms the relationship between the affected parties. The restorative justice programs' objective is to bring the two parties together to help determine the best way to resolve the emerging conflict and violations. The concept is based on three main ideas; repairing the harm caused by the offender, encounter involves bringing parties together to make decisions, and transformation involves causing fundamental changes in relationships, people, and the community. The national juvenile justice network aims to ensure that the juveniles, their families, and the community obtain justice from the judicial process (Griffiths, 2020) . The national juvenile justice network helps to raise the voices of juveniles in various state-based juvenile justice courts. The network use restorative justice systems to help develop programs aimed at decriminalizing the behavior of juveniles. They also provide such youth with lawyers while striving to reduce institutionalization. 

The juvenile probation officers play an essential role in monitoring the behavior of youth in probation. Juvenile probation programs offer juveniles an opportunity to remain in society under the court's strict supervision. During probation, juveniles are expected to demonstrate good behavior and observe specific terms and conditions. The juvenile probation officers are perceived as informal probation. After having a close interaction with the youths in probation, they play a critical role in making decisions on whether the case involving specific juveniles need to be adjusted or diverted away from the court process or whether the case should be referred to a regular court process (Griffiths, 2020) . Restorative justice is an effective focus on juvenile probation. In contrast, other juvenile justices aim to punish while the restorative justice programs aim to repair the harm resulting from crime by bringing together various parties in a crime. 

Reference 

Griffiths, M. (2020). Restorative justice conferencing: Reconstructing practice with male juvenile offenders. In  Working with men in the human services  (pp. 134-146). Routledge.