A Restorative Justice System

Paper Summary:

The paper explores why the public seems to have low levels of confidence and trust in the justice system and the extent to which community residents participate in justice initiatives. The paper examines the potential and the limits of restorative justice as a mechanism and discusses increasing community and citizen involvement in the justice process. The paper clearly shows the evidence that approaches to justice in our modern Western society are ineffective. The paper explains how the criminal justice system ignores the public's role in addressing crime, and thus alienates the community. The paper concludes that future approaches to justice should revolve around a restorative system as opposed to a criminal justice system.

Outline:
Introduction: The General Public and the Criminal Justice System
Why the Public Seems to Have Low Levels of Confidence and Trust
in the Justice System
The Extent to Which Community Residents Participate in Justice
Initiatives
The Potential and the Limits of Restorative Justice as a Mechanism
For Increasing Community and Citizens' Involvement in the Justice Process
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"Evidence shows that public confidence and trust in the criminal justice system is low. In Canada, a recent survey revealed that most citizens were dissatisfied with the government's response to crime, even though they found no fault with the police themselves (p. 64). It appears to be the criminal justice system itself that dissatisfies the public. Canadian citizens are dissatisfied with the performance of the criminal court, the prison system, and, in particular, the parole system (ibid). The same findings tend to be replicated in studies of other Western countries, such as the U.S. and Europe (p. 65)."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Achiles, M. and Zehr, H. (2001). Restorative justice for crime victims: The promise and the challenge. Restorative community justice: repairing harm and transforming communities (pp.87-99). Cincinatti, OH: Anderson.
• Bellard, Jon. (1998). Innovative Restorative Justice Projects. The Community Mediator (pp. 6-10), Summer Edition.
• Bianchi, H. (1994). The idea of justice. Justice as sanctuary: Toward a new system of crime control (pp. 6-48). Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
• Christie, N. (1977). Conflict as property. The British Journal of Criminology, 17 (1), 1-15.
• Community Justice (2003). Department of Justice. Retrieved March 20, 2007 from http://www.justice.gov.nt.ca/CommunityJustice/CommunityJustice.htm.

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