Restorative Justice

...

THE EFFECTS OF THE BURGLARY ON THE VICTIM AND THE SOCIETY

The burglary caused mixed reactions across RJ City. Mildred explains that be burglary had affected her in that she lost the mementos of her marriage as Ed and David had stolen them. The burglary also made her feel estranged from the community and also worried about the much time her daughter Betty was giving to her given she had her own activities. Also, Mildred’s neighbor Barbara was worried after the incident saying that she felt vulnerable as she was a single mother.

HOW THE RESTORATIVE JUSTICE DIFFERS FROM CONTEMPORAL JUSTICE

As Mildred later states as they held the circle with David, that although David may have done a bad thing, he was not a bad person. This goes to show that restorative justice focuses on the fact that one may learn from his mistakes while the contemporary justice system focuses on the fact that the offender is a bad person and should, therefore, pay for his mistakes.

HOW THE RESTORATIVE JUSTICE PROCESS BENEFITED THE SOCIETY

Mildred’s fear of the society is greatly reduced, and she also was invited to visit Barbara’s where he met her son Aklilu who she sometimes did childcare for. Also, as Betty later noticed, she had become less depressed and dependent than even before the burglary. As her health later started to fail, she moved to a nursing home and while there many of her neighbors visited her on a daily basis. David’s relationship with his parents improved, he even got back into the Baseball team.

REFERENCES

- Achilles, M., & Zehr, H. (2001). “Restorative justice for victims: The promise, the challenge.”In G. Bazemore &M. Schiff (Eds.), Restorative community justice: Repairing harm and transforming communities. Cincinnati, OH: Anderson Publishing. Retrieved from www.academia.edu/1299613/Restorative_justice_for_crime_victims_the_promise_the_challenge

- http://www.cscsb.org/restorative_justice/what_is_restorative_justice.html