Pros And Cons Of Restorative Justice

Of the four cornerposts of restorative justice, I feel that Amends supports the central restorative justice principles and values. Restorative justice focuses on the needs of the victim and the offenders, and the community. In order to repair the harm that was caused, I feel that amends is highly important because it is the step where the offender is taking responsibility for the harm that they have causes. This is the step where the offender is admitting his wrongdoing and apologizing. This gives the victim the power to accept or reject the apology.
There are four step of amends: apology, changed behavior, restitution, and generosity. The first step is the apology. There are three elements to an apology: acknowledgement, affect, and vulnerability. In the element of acknowledgment, this is when the offender accepts full responsibility for hurting the victim. The offender accepts that they caused real harm by their actions. The offender also accepts that the harm they caused was experienced by another hum being who did not deserve it.
In the element of affect, this is …show more content…
Changes the behavior of an offender will help to “turn the offender around” and prevent the offender from causing other people to become victims. The offender must change their environment. Attending school or Finding a job is an example of changing the environment. They must stay away from places that might cause them to engage in criminal activity. They offender must learn new behavior. If the offender has substance abuse problems, the offender must attend alcohol anonymous session or drug treatment programs. If the offender has anger issues, they must attend management classes. If the offender does have any educational or vocational training, they attend education or job training programs. Follow-up meetings to the encounters may be used to monitor the offender's progress in trying to change and give him/her positive reinforcement on progress