NCJ Number
178486
Journal
Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 27 Issue: 4 Dated: July/August 1999 Pages: 333-343
Date Published
1999
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This article argues for a victim-oriented, research-driven screening process in the selection of offenders for restorative justice encounters between victims and offenders.
Abstract
The values and perspectives of restorative justice are markedly different from those of the traditional criminal justice system. Its cardinal focus is the well-being of communities of people, beginning with the crime victim. In this paradigm, the traditional criminal justice goal of public protection is particularized in terms of victim protection. Crime is conceived as conflict between individuals that harms people. It follows that participant satisfaction is a more germane measure of program success, at least in the short term, than is recidivism and that "risk" is more accurately conceived as risk of harming the victim. Victims who participate in restorative justice that involves interaction with the offender are at risk of trauma when offenders are unresponsive to the program. It is therefore important to assess the likelihood that offenders will be unresponsive due to their social, cognitive, and/or psychological traits. "Responsivity," which is now gaining recognition as one basis for offender classification for treatment, might be a basis for new assessment tools for restorative justice. 4 notes and 69 references