The Restorative Justice Model

Many of my articles about crime and offenders may be underpinned by the following principles outlined in the Restorative Justice Paradigm.
Here the Restorative Justice Paradigm is contrasted to the Retributive (old and current) Model.

I will outline 17 points here:
1 - Retributive Justice says that crime is a violation of the State, whereas the Restorative Justice Model says that crime should be defined as violation of one person by another.

2 - Retributive Justice says that the focus on establishing blame, on guilt and on events in the past (did he/she do it?), whereas the Restorative Justice Model says that the focus should be on problem-solving and on liabilities and obligations in the future (what should be done?)

3 - Retributive Justice says that adversarial relationships and processes are normative, whereas the Restorative Justice Model says that dialogue and negotiation should be normative.

4 - Retributive Justice utilizes the Imposition of pain to both punish and as deterrent/prevention; whereas the Restorative Justice Model says that restitution should be used as the means for restoring both parties with reconciliation/restoration as goal.

5 - Retributive Justice says that justice is defined by intent and by process with the result being the use of 'right rules', whereas the Restorative Justice Model says that justice should be defined as right relationships; and judged by the outcome.

6 - Retributive Justice says that the interpersonal and conflictual nature of crime is obscured, repressed resulting in the conflict being seen as individual vs. state, whereas the Restorative Justice Model says that crime should be recognized as inter-personal conflict where the value of conflict is given duly recognized.

7 - Retributive Justice says that one social injury gets replaced by another, whereas the Restorative Justice Model says that there should be focus placed on the repair of social injury.

8 - Retributive Justice says that the general community is placed on the sidelines, represented abstractly by state whereas the Restorative Justice Model says that the community should be the facilitator of the restorative process.

9 - Retributive Justice says that there is encouragement of competitive, individualistic values whereas the Restorative Justice Model says that the emphasis should be placed on the active encouragement of mutuality.

10 - Retributive Justice says that actions are directed from the State to offender; and that the victim is ignored and the offender takes on a passive role whereas the Restorative Justice Model says that both the victim and the offender's roles need to be recognized in both the problem and the solution: that is
that the victims rights and needs should be recognized and that the offender should be encouraged to take responsibility.

11 - Retributive Justice says that offender accountability is defined as taking punishment whereas the Restorative Justice Model says that offender accountability should be defined as understanding the impact of their actions and in helping them to decide how to make things right.

12 - Retributive Justice says that offense is defined in purely legal terms that are devoid of moral, social, economic and political dimensions whereas the Restorative Justice Model says that offense should be understood within the whole context - moral, social, economic and political.

13 - Retributive Justice says that there is "debt" owed to State and society in the abstract whereas the Restorative Justice Model says that debt/liability to victim should be recognized.

14 - Retributive Justice says that response is focused on the offender's past behavior whereas the Restorative Justice Model says that response should be focused on harmful consequences of offender's behavior.

15 - Retributive Justice says that the stigma of crime is un-removable whereas the Restorative Justice Model says that the stigma of crime should be removable through restorative action.

16 - Retributive Justice says that no encouragement is provided for repentance and forgiveness whereas the Restorative Justice Model says that there should be multiple possibilities for repentance and forgiveness.

17 - Retributive Justice says that there is dependence upon proxy professional intervention whereas the Restorative Justice Model says that there should be direct involvement by participants.

Food for thought :-)