Restorative Justice

Restorative Justice

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Restorative Justice

Restorative justice is one of the most important parts of the criminal justice system, which ensures the reconciliation of the offenders and victims, after the rehabilitation of the offenders. It is quite important to make the offenders realize the impact of their criminal actions on the life of the victims and the restorative justice programs are led in order to ensure the repentance of the offenders as well as rehabilitation of their behaviour. The purpose of the restorative justice is also to ensure that the criminal offenders reflect on the impacts of their actions and refrain from them in future. A great number of restorative justice programs are practiced in different states of the United States of America, which try to make the conditions favourable among the offenders and the victims, in order to keep the peace of the society. One such restorative justice program is ‘Focus on the Victim (FOV) Program,' which is practiced in the state of New Jersey.

Focus on the Victim Program pays a greater focus on the rehabilitation of the victims of the crime, as evident from the name of the program. In this type of restorative program, the offenders of criminal activity are provided with the chance of putting themselves in the shoes of the victims. They are made to think the situation from the perspective of the victims and consider the suffering, pain and other emotions they would face if they were the victim of the scenario and not the criminal. It makes them think that nobody deserves the pain and suffering inflicted upon them. Another important purpose of the focus on the victim program is to make the criminal reflect on the harms and suffering caused due to their actions and think about their reaction in the same kind of situation. In addition to it, the restorative program of focus on victim provides the opportunity of analysing the impacts of the vast range of crimes, which include the assaults, theft, Robbery, rape, murder and property crimes as well (Focus on the Victim Program).

The staffs of the focus on the victim program of the restorative justice consist of the members of the department of correction of New Jersey. In addition to it, guest speakers are invited during the sessions and cycles of the program. The guest speakers shed light on their own experiences while motivating the criminals to think about the situation of the victim. They also help the offenders to think the situation from the perspective of the victims and share their feeling that they would experience as a victim. Through such sessions, they are educated about the importance of taking care of the rights of other individuals of society and not hurting their privacy and safety.

The guest speakers of the program, as well as the criminals and victims, who take part in the program, do so, on the voluntary basis and they are not forced to participate in the program. The funding of the program is also supported by the government authorities. On the other hand, the other concerned organizations of the society can also play their role in arranging the programs and providing the guidance and education to the criminal offenders, to reflect on their behaviour and amend it (Berkley, 2017).

Focus on the Victim is one of the most important restorative justice programs being practiced in New Jersey. The program is making a contribution towards the peace and progress of the society, by helping the offenders to analyse the ruthlessness of their actions and its impact on the life of the criminals, which is irreversible in most of the cases. The program is funded by the government, which wants to ensure the peace and progress of society.

References

Berkley, J. A. (2017). Restorative Practice: An Intervention to Improve Connectedness In A New Jersey Middle School. Wilmington University (Delaware).

Focus on the Victim Program. N.Y. State Of New Jersey, Department Of Corrections. Retrieved from: https://www.nj.gov/corrections/SubSites/OVS/OVS_FOV.html