Compare And Contrast Restorative Justice And Criminal Justice

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Criminal justice is often centered around simple punishment for the offender. In a situation where a crime creates harm, justice is often synonymous with revenge. Restorative justice and rehabilitative therapy are two different approaches to justice that offer different perspectives and understanding of reconciliation. Both of these approaches allow for healing but the two different theories complete this objective in different ways. Restorative justice and rehabilitative therapy offer different in depth lenses of reconciliation in criminal justice through multi layered perspectives, while also sharing some concepts. Restorative justice is an approach to criminal justice that puts emphasis on reconciliation, responsibility and healing while …show more content…
The therapeutic model itself is consistent with restorative justice, the most evident similarity being the fact that it is a process. There is no “quick fix” or “yes or no” decision to be made as there is with traditional sentencing in the criminal justice system. The healing is a learning process in both perspectives. Secondly, those involved in either program can experience extreme self growth. This is inclusive of communities, families of victims or offenders, and even professionals in the criminal justice system who view the result of the two approaches. The final similarity is the final result, looking past the process used to get there. Both approaches include for a break in the cycle of crime, therapeutic processes and healing for everyone in the situation. Rehabilitation is often the term used in restorative justice for helping offenders out of their cycle of behaviour and into new roles in the community. (Brunk, p.51) The most evident difference between the two is that restorative justice requires the offender to carry responsibility for their crime while rehabilitation puts the responsibility on the behaviour, and argues the behaviour is a result of different reasons; environmental, illness, social or family related. Restorative justice and rehabilitative therapy share some ideas but differ in their

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