According to Restorative Justice (online) restorative justice is a systematic response to wrongdoing that emphasizes healing the wounds of victims, offenders and communities caused or revealed by the criminal behavior. Three principles form the foundation for restorative justice:
Justice requires that we work to restore those who have been injured.
Those most directly involved and affected by crime should have the opportunity to participate fully in the response if they wish.
Government's role is to preserve a just public order, and the community's is to build and maintain a just peace.
Some of the correctional policies or principles typically identified with restorative justice include:
Victim offender mediation involves a meeting between the victim and offender facilitated by a trained mediator. With the assistance of the mediator, the victim and offender begin to resolve the conflict and to construct their own approach to achieving justice in the face of their particular crime. Both are given the opportunity to express their feelings and perceptions of the offense that often dispels misconceptions they may have had of one another before entering mediation.
Conferencing is another form of restorative justice. Conferencing programs are similar to victim-offender reconciliation/ mediation programs, in that they involve the victim and offender in an extended conversation about the crime and its consequences. Conferencing programs also include the participation of families, community support groups, police, social welfare officials and attorneys in addition to the victim and offender.
Circles provide a space for encounter between the victim and the offender, but it moves beyond that to involve the community in the decision making process. Depending on the model being used, the community participants may range from justice system personnel to anyone in the community concerned about the crime. Everyone present, the...