Journal Reflections
Restorative justice is intended to create a form of closure for the victims by having them meet with the offenders and having the offenders understand the impact that their actions have had on their victims. It is a form of dialogue that takes place between the perpetrators of crime and the victims that have been affected negatively by that crime. Restorative justice is more effective in handling of crimes of hate and also those ones that are gender based (Zehr, 2015). This is because these are the type of crimes that leave the victims with psychological scars. There is also the possibility of the perpetrator having suffered earlier on and as a result, retaliated in search of justice on their side. There is a need for both parties to feel understood and for them to understand each other as well, as this ensures that the offence may not be repeated in the future.
The first insight gained with respect to restorative justice is that the mainstream system of justice rarely considers the emotional and psychological effects that a crime has had on either the perpetrator or the victim. As a result, there is no remorse or closure experienced, and this lays foundations for future crimes in the form of retaliation (Zehr, 2015). Another insight gained is that restorative justice need not be used to replace the judicial processes already in place. It rather ought to be used as complementary measure to the current judicial system. In terms of culture, the dialogue nature used in restorative justice used to be applied by my community in the past to resolve all types of disputes. The major crimes that could not be negotiated resulted in the perpetrator getting banished from the community for life. These included murder and habitual theft.
Reference
Zehr, H. (2015). Changing lenses:Restorative justice for our times. 25th anniversary edition. Scottsdale, PA: Herald Press.