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There is a LOT of confusion today, as well as outright lies and deception, regarding the term Restorative Justice. What Restorative Justice IS: Restorative Justice begins with a trial of the alleged offender. The alleged offender is either exonerated or found guilty. Usually, if found guilty, the accused would be sentenced. This is where the protractors of Restorative Justice associate it with liberal judges, soft pedaling juries and weak prosecutors. Unfortunately some offenders are treated better than deserved or worse than reasonable in the sentencing process. The individuals that prosecute cases and preside over the courts must be interested in the fate of the victim and the offender, society, appropriate sentences (neither the extremes of severity or a slap on the hands). The system must realize the offender will commit crimes again after he serves his time and is released unless the penal system truly is an agent of change in the offender's life. Restorative Justice demands a penalty commensurate to the crime. However, where the regular penal system demands revenge rather than justice, Restorative Justice works hard throughout the criminal's incarceration with programs designed to snap the criminal out of the mindset of crime. This is effective in the lives of many offenders, whether or not they will ever be eligible for parole or serve out their time. Even lifers can benefit from Restorative Justice, because the cycle of crime must be broken. Many young hoodlums learn how to be hardened criminals in prison. A would be tough guy may learn the ropes of serious crime in prison, get released and the go back out into the real world and practice what the hardened criminals taught him while in jail. This cycle must be broken. Prisons must stop being crime university! The criminal is constantly brought face to face in these programs with the error of his/her crime, the consequences of that crime and how wrong crime was to begin with. Inmates allowed to go into and remain in a restorative justice program must accept responsibility for their actions, must be genuinely remorseful for that or those crime(s) and work with sincerity toward restitution for the crime. In Summary: TRUE Restorative Justice demands punishiment, not revenge. It demands the offender face his crime and accept responsibility for it. It demands the offender serve a reasonable sentence in line with the severity of the crime. It demands the offender submit to programs designed to cause a change of mind and heart in the life of the offender. These programs and activities are designed to cause the offender to be responsible, accept reality of his crime and be changed into an individual that can return to society, if he will be eligible for release. Even in the case of those offenders in for life without parole Restorative Justice can help reconnect the offender to his family, bring genuine sorrow and restitution between the offender and the victim's family. What Restorative Justice IS NOT!: Not a get out of jail free card, not a way to get reduced or commuted sentences, not diminished punishment or pop culture for criminals to help "make them feel better about themselves". Recent ridiculous early releases, commuted sentences for child molestors and rapists is NOT Restorative Justice, it is a sign of a weakened society and should cause real American Believers everywhere to rise up and cry out NO to our government and elected officials! © Promises of Life Ministries 2008 |