Pursuing a Restorative Vision of Justice (From Justice: The Restorative Vision, P 17-30, 1989, See NCJ-119505)

• NCJ Number: 119507
• Author(s): D W Van Ness
• Date Published: 1989
• Length: 14 pages
• Corporate Author: MCC U.S. Office of Criminal Justice; MCC Canada Victims Offender Ministries Program
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Occasional Papers of the MCC Canada Victim Offender Ministries Program and the MCC U.S. Office of Criminal Justice, February 1989, Issue No. 7.

Annotation

This article attacks the current criminal justice system as unsound and based on retribution and reports on the Justice Fellowship's plan to create a restorative justice model to replace the retributive model.

Abstract

Retributive criminal justice gives priority to the State's power to punish offenses against the government. This approach runs contrary to ancient Hebrew, Greek, and Roman legal traditions and ignores the needs of victims and communities. The Justice Fellowship is engaged in a three-year project to create a system model that reflects restorative justice principles. Restorative justice principles emphasize the dynamic relationship among government, community, victim, and offender in restoring the imbalance created by crime. Specific strategies for the evolving restorative justice model include (1) granting victims of crime a formal role in the criminal justice system that includes the right to participate (with legal counsel) in criminal cases to pursue restitution; (2) sentencing nondangerous offenders to community service and restitution programs in lieu of incarceration; (3) providing, through local churches, first response and crisis intervention services for crime victims; and (4) providing victims and offenders with opportunities for reconciliation through church-based programs. 9 references.