Week 3 Discussion

Restorative Justice

As a new chief of police in a city of 100,000 people, you are determined to implement a restorative justice model in order to effect positive changes in public safety and quality of life. As David Simson stated in his paper, Restorative Justice and Its Effects on (Racially Disparate) Punitive School Discipline, given at the 7th Annual Conference on Empirical Legal Studies:

Restorative Justice can be described as an alternative method of dealing with misbehavior distinguished from the two currently dominant models of retribution (justice model) and rehabilitation (welfare model). Its core values focus on “healing rather than hurting, moral learning, community participation and community caring, respectful dialogue, forgiveness, responsibility, apology, and making amends” in an attempt to restore victims, offenders, as well as broader affected communities to a more positive place after something bad has happened (Simson, 2012, p. 8).

You know full well that there is no chance that you can cause such a drastic shift in culture without enlisting enthusiastic support from important contributors within your own organization and the community as a whole.

For this Discussion, assume that you are completely convinced that restorative justice will produce positive outcomes in your community. Then, consider how you might proceed to identify and enlist the support needed to implement your plan.

Post by Day 3 an explanation of how restorative justice differs from traditional approaches to treating offenders and crime victims. Describe challenges restorative programs face in terms of political, public, and policy acceptance. Then, outline steps you believe will be necessary to build consensus and bring about necessary changes in individual and group viewpoints and behaviors.

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