Restorative justice approaches are a means of reasonable punishment to a wrongdoer (Braithwaite & Strang, 2017). Restorative justice is mainly focused on fostering understanding between the offender and the institution and balance the need between the two arriving at understanding whereby the wrongdoer is expected to adjust his/her behavior. This approach can be used in a school set up and is highly recommended to solve disputes between students and the institution and should be implemented to help assimilate students that have drifted away from school rules. Through different approaches to restorative justice, the school should be able to reach out to offending students that the institution has unsuccessfully failed to correct their misdeeds to assimilate them back to the system. This process has over the years proved to be useful as it has given positive results by ensuring victim satisfaction and the offender taking responsibility for their actions
The institution can apply three different models of restorative justice approach, which include restorative conferences; this is whereby their respective supporters accompany the wrongdoer and the victim. Through this approach of restorative justice, the student offender, in this case, the parents escort them to school, whereby they will meet the group or individual responsible for handling discipline cases. The group holds discussions aimed at establishing who is harmed by the offense, and how to repair the damage caused. The dialogue objectives are to assess the wrongdoing perpetrated and how the student can adjust or refrain from such behavior in the future. Here the student is made to realize their mistake towards the institution through changing their behavior. This approach is instrumental in ensuring the students that have drifted away from school rules are assimilated back to school without causing damage to the student through punishment.
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Another approach to restorative justice is victim-offender mediation. This approach is aimed at reconciling the victim and the wrongdoer (Gavrielides, 2017). The school disciplinarian or the persons responsible meet up to discuss the reasons why the student committed the offense, the harms the victims experienced, and how to reconcile the two. The students get a fair chance to explain their experience, for example, the reason why they committed the crime. On the other hand, the school listens to the students, and together they arrive at an understanding which involves the offender taking responsibility for their actions. Taking responsibility for actions include transformation, which is the most fundamental aspect of this process, and it gives a new fresh start for the offender who is brought back to the system in a reconciliatory manner. Through a show of goodwill by the school, it creates the right environment for the student to adjust well in the system without getting on the wrong side of it. The process enhances the student's self-awareness, and this helps them to make proper decisions in the future. This approach is practical as its natural provoking change in a peaceful manner, attracting less rebellion and has a better chance of working than the use of force.
Restitution is another approach whereby the students are trained to make the right decisions in some instances in their day to day lives concerning the school guidelines and rules. Here the students can change their behaviors while emphasizing positive solutions. The students are taught how to view mistakes as opportunities and learn from them, thereby improving their relations with other people and the institutions. Theoretically, this vastly applicable as one can make the right decisions regarding a particular issue with prior knowledge about it or a prior warning. This action will help the offender to take responsibility for their actions, giving them a chance to redeem themselves. The reason for the application of the corrective measure is to provides an almost assurance of fair treatment to the wrongdoer as it will not mainly focus on punishing the offender but rather share an experience of the occurrence of the crime, establish who the victims are, and act accordingly.
References
Strang, H., & Braithwaite, J. (Eds.). (2017). Restorative justice: Philosophy to practice. Routledge.
Gavrielides, T. (2017). Restorative justice: Ideals and realities . Routledge.
