Restorative Justice Advantages

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There has been considerable discussion regarding the negative effects of imprisonment and compulsory treatment on illicit drug users in the UK. Obviously, imprisonment has many adverse effects; for instance, families whose members are in prison will lose respect in the community (Clear, 2009). The second adverse effect that Imprisonment of low-level drug offenders has criminogenic effects that increase the likelihood of recidivism and additional criminal behaviour (Stevenson, 2011). Moreover, these compulsory treatments may not be effective for drug users because they breach ethics and restrict the liberty of the individual (Clear, 2009).

However, using compulsory treatment works on drug offenders who face a more restrictive penal sanction,
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The UK Ministry of Justice (2012) states that 85 percent of victims who go through restorative justice conferences find it helpful. For offenders who take part in restorative justice, there is a 14% reduction in reoffending rates. However, despite this, restorative justice is not being used enough. Using restorative justice in criminal justice has several potential benefits. First, it plays an important role in improving victim and offender satisfaction with the justice system (Shapland et al, 2006). Second, the Shapland research commissioned by the Ministry of Justice suggested that offenders who said they particularly wished to meet their victim at the conference were less likely to be reconvicted and had lower frequency and cost of reconviction (Shapland, 2007). The final benefit is that restorative justice has the support of the judiciary because it provides additional information on which to base their sentencing …show more content…
This link was discussed through the theory that drug use leads to crime, based on the tripartite framework divided into three factors, psychopharmacological, systemic and economic-compulsive factors. Based on the main findings in the UK from treatment studies; this method has been criticised. As such, researchers used different method is called structure sequences studies. In addition, the punitive measures and their negative impacts on drug offenders were discussed briefly. In order to address this issue, the alternative to compulsory treatment and imprisonment were listed, focusing on drug courts and their role in rehabilitating drug offenders through following this system. Then, the restorative justice system was defined and discussed in detail, along with the aims and types of restorative justice focusing on victim-offender mediation, which is the most common form of restorative justice. The traditional justice system and restorative justice system were compared, and the benefits of using restorative justice were explained. On the other hand, the restorative justice system was also criticised because of the potential risks associated with this process. .

There are a few limitations in this essay. First of all, there are constraints on data availability because some sources were out of date. The word count

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