Restorative Justice

Historically crime was “against the state”, however victims and their families often feel their needs and wishes are ignored.

Restorative justice aims to redress this balance as victims are allowed to have a say on what happens to the offender. It provides victim with control and choice, a chance to ask questions and explain the impact of their crime to discourage re-offending.

However, it can be a very distressing process for both the victim and the offender, and as details of the crime are brought up, it may be more traumatizing than beneficial for the victim.  

Study: Sherman and Strang (2007) conducted a content analysis of 36 papers which compared re-offending rates of those who'd undergone restorative  justice to those who had not. 

Restorative justice was found to be more effective with a personal victim rather than a business, and especially effective with violent crimes and property crime such as burglary. It was not found to be effective in all cases, and appeared to be more effective in providing peace of mind or reducing post-traumatic stress for the victim than preventing re-offending. 

It was concluded that there was some support for the increased use of restorative justice, particularly with young or first time offenders.