Restorative Justice and Young Offenders Free Essay Example, 1750 words

Restorative Justice and Young Offenders Restorative justice is a relatively contemporary model in penology that has had quite a considerable level ofacceptance in modern penology, especially in North America, Europe, (Umbreit and Greenwood, 1998) Australia, and New Zealand. More than a 1000 different programmes that employ restorative justice principles are known to be operative in the afore mentioned jurisdictions. (Umbreit and Greenwood, 1998) According to Marshall (1999) restorative justice is â€Å"a problem-solving approach to crime which involves the parties themselves, and the community generally, in an active relationship with statutory agencies† (p. 5). The main ethos in restorative justice focuses on a process which allows participation by the victim of crime, community representatives, the offender and families of the victim and or the offender. (Luna 2003) This inclusive process of penology is preferred as a medium for dealing with the causes and effects of crime in the community. (Luna 2003) Restorative justice views crime as an offence against an individual (or individuals) and the community and is thus a departure from the traditional norm in penology where the state assumes the role as the one whose prohibitions has been breached. We will write a custom essay sample on Restorative Justice and Young Offenders or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now The locus of dealing with crime and its effects under restorative justice is thus communal in nature. Consequently, Marshall (1995) has observed that restorative justice gives â€Å"recognition of community, rather than criminal justice agencies as the prime site of crime control† (p. 1) Marshall (1999) also asserts that restorative justice is founded on principles which include â€Å"making room for the personal involvement of those mainly concerned (particularly the offender and the victim, but also their families and communities); seeing crime problems in their social context; a forward-looking (or preventative) problem-solving orientation; † and â€Å"flexibility of practice (creativity)† (p. 5). One of the areas of the criminal justice system that restorative justice is showing a lot of promise as a form of early intervention in preventing re-offending in many countries the world over (especially the ‘Family Group Conferences in Australia and New Zealand) is in the area of juvenile delinquency or youth offending. (Thames Valley Police, 1999) McGarrell (2001) observes that in the US, emphasis on issues of youth violence and school safety due to school shootings, have diverted attention from an important area of concern like delinquency among the very young.