Restorative Justice Paper
Luis Sanchez

Life is about making wrong and bad choices, there is not a single individual on earth that was born with the appropriated knowledge of what is right and was wrong. No individual is perfect they are all equal and all go through struggle, and by struggling choices are being made whether are choices with appropriate behavior or inappropriate behavior. Some individuals know how to control themselves before a tragedy occurs, but most fail to control their temper and they violate the law, and by violating the law consequences are implement because justice must be obtain. Once an offender commits crime then it is more likely for the case to go to trial. The criminal justice system is the practices and institutions of governments directed at upholding social control. So when crime occurs the defendant will receive either a punishment or sentence. The criminal justice system and other systems that are against crime and inappropriate behavior are always on the side of the victim, because their goal is to obtain justice. The restorative justice is an approach to justice that focus on the needs of the victims and offenders, as well as the involved community instead of satisfying abstract legal principles or punishing the offender. Restorative justices involve both victim and offender and focuses on the personal needs. It is based on a theory of justice that considers crime and wrongdoing to be an offence against an individual of community, rather than the state. Restorative justice is a new movement in the fields of victimology and criminology. Acknowledging that crime causes injury to people and communities, it insists that justice repair those injuries and that the parties be permitted to participate in that process. Restorative justice programmes, therefore enable the victim, the offender and affected members of the community to be directed involved in responding to the crime. They become central to the criminal justice process, with governmental and legal professionals serving as facilitators of a system that aims at offender accountability, reparation to the victim and full participation by the victim, offender and community. Although restorative justice is about 30 years old, its influence has spread around the world at a remarkable speed. (Centre for Justice and Reconciliation, 2008)
The crime in the RJ City case study had effects that affected more than the immediate victim. There is always a cause and effect in every action, in this case the crime had effects that involved the neighborhood were the crime took place and close family members of the individuals involved in the crime. The thief’s that broke into house were not conscious of the harm that their actions were going to cause and Betty the daughter of the victim who’s name is Mildred found her self affected by the crime because it require Betty to utilize more of her personal time to assist her mother. Barbara who lives in neighborhood were the crime took place found her self affected because in her case she is a single mother who lives alone with her child and her primary concerns were the safety of the neighborhood and the effects of crime on community members lives. These were the closes individuals who had an immediate effect from the crime in the case study but there are other individuals such as David’s parents, David’s coach, David uncle and Ed’s woodshop teacher who had to use their own time to assist in the best outcome for the individuals who committed the crime. Beyond physical damages a crime can affect more than one person in a many ways, it can be psychological or financial or just time wise unfortunate. (RJ City Case Study, 2009) The restorative justice process differs from the contemporary criminal justices processes, by the attempt to involve the victim in the justice process. Each model centers on a different stage of the justice system, but all attempt to improve victim satisfaction with the process and outcome. Attempts have been made to improve victim participation at the pre-trial stage, trial stage, sentencing stage, and post sentencing stage. During the 1980’s, the attention of reformers was being drawn toward the issue of victim involvement in the criminal justice process. Early reforms have been criticized for giving victims only marginally improved status with the hope of gaining their corporation as witnesses. Contemporary reforms, however; try to truly involve the victim. Different programs center on different stages of the justice system but all attempt to improve victim satisfaction with the process and the outcome. The examination of institutional responses to crime entails an engagement with contemporary criminal justices issues, and with the restorative justice process issues. (John Howard, 1997) The restorative justice process is a great method to bring together individuals in general. If allowed by both parties (the aggressor and the victims) the process enables a chance to make everything better for the persons affected by the crime. In the case of David he understood that what he had done wasn’t correct and for him to undo to some level the damages he had cause he followed up with the restorative justice process until the end. The way he found him self-benefited is by improving in almost every aspect of his life, from attitude to self-conscious. Mildred who did not even know her neighbors was able to socialize more with individuals from her neighborhood and even had the chance to occupy her self by providing childcare to one of her neighbors. The crime created concerns around the neighborhood and so it enabled for a revision by the RJ City officials on how to improve safety. When a child does something inappropriate the parent teaches the child a lesson and it provides mentoring so the child will not do it again. Well that’s is how the restorative justice process works, it teaches the aggressor a lesson by requiring an apology to the victim or providing community service, then it provides mentoring to help the individual to follow the right steps to “help make things right”. In the other hand the victim receives follow up support to relief their worries. By all means the restorative justice process creates a better future by providing knowledge to individuals on how to be better a person and assisting victims with information on how they can help. (RJ City Case Study, 2009)
Conclusion
It is by fact that every bad act committed will always have consequences and the outcome will always be a negative aspect. Inappropriate behavior occurs on a daily basis and also tragedies are made daily. Just like there is crime there are also programs that focus on providing justice to the victim. Such as, The Criminal Justice System, Contemporary Programs, and Restorative Justice Models, all of these programs are resources that are provided to all those individuals who have been victims of a serious aggression. It is complex for a victim to obtain justice but by having successful programs were their priority is to gain and provide justice to victims, victims will always have hope of reaching out to fair treatment.