Emotions are very important to how changing how humans experience the world physically, mentally, and cognitively. Restorative justice is heavily based on how to identify one’s own emotions and balance them properly. By managing their emotions, participants of restoratives justice can help remove the negative feelings associated with the crime (Van Ness & Strong, 2002). In order to do that, participants of restorative justice must learn emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is the ability to identify and balance one’s emotions, as well as the emotions of others. Mayer and Salovey define it as:
A type of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one’s own and other’s emotions, to discriminate among them, and to use
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The scope of emotional intelligence includes the verbal and nonverbal appraisal and expression of emotion, the regulation of emotion in the self and others, and the utilization of emotional content in problem solving. (pp. 433)
Emotional intelligence in restorative justice not only falls into a method for helping mend wounds and resolve anger and fear issues after a crime has taken place, but also to prevent it. By holding emotional power over potential offenders, the community can use these emotions to seek to restore and prevent reoffending individuals. Besides positively engaging offenders, communities that practice restorative justice can also seek to shame offenders for their acts, without blaming the offender directly for their actions. One such method of restorative justice that communities utilize is the reintegrative shaming theory. Developed by Braithwaite in 1989, the theory states that societies that aim to create shame on the act of crime will reduce crime rates (Braithwaite, 2001). The theory
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As the purpose of restorative justice is to mend the very relationship between the victim, offender, and society, communities that embrace restorative justice foster an awareness on how the act has harmed others. Braithwaite (1989) notes that by rejecting only the criminal act and not the offender, restorative justice allows for a closer empathetic relationship between the offender, victims, and community. By acknowledging the intrinsic worth of the offender and their ability to contribute back to the community, restorative justice shows how all individuals are capable of being useful despite criminal acts previous. This encourages offenders to safely reintegrate into society, as they are encouraged to rejoin and find rapport with the community through their emotions and
Zehr (1990) who is thought to be one of the pioneers leading the argument for restorative justice highlighted three questions presented when taking a restorative approach; what is the nature of the harm resulting from the crime? What needs to be done to make things right or repair the harm? Who is responsible for this repair? He ascertained that ‘crime is fundamentally a violation of people and interpersonal relationships’. He also noted that violations create obligations and liabilities and that restorative justice seeks to heal and put right the wrongs. Restorative jus...
Restoration Restorative justice is based on bringing together the victim, the offender, and the community; all have equal parts in repairing the relationships destroyed by
This voluntary alternative gives the offender the opportunity to take responsibility for their actions and identify the impact they have had on their victim, while also giving the victim the chance to confront the offender and take steps to repair the harm done. The victim can ask the offender questions about the crime and the offender may apologise or make amends for their actions. Restorative justice is confrontational and can be difficult for both parties but is proven to help both the offender and victim. While it is confrontational for the victim, for some it can be better than testifying in court. Data shows that restorative justice greatly helps victims in their recovery from the offence. Although the benefits of restorative justice in adult offenders is unclear, it significantly reduces the number of reoffenders in youth. For this reason, restorative justice is mostly used for minor infringements and within the youth justice system.
Restorative justice is a new approach that views crime as harm to people and the community. This process allows for communication between the victims, offender and the community effected by the crime. This is a way to promote accountability, and engage understanding, feelings of satisfaction, and a sense of closure. Restorative justice is a non-retributive approach. The restorative justice process includes, but is not limited to; victim-offender mediation, restorative conferences and circle processes. According to Wilson, Huculak and McWhinnie; the recidivism rate for those who were not conference within restorative justice process during their study was 43%, while those who were conferenced was 27%, (2002). They state that these statistics are promising, but at the time the article was written, there was a study underway to determine the effectiveness of the Canadian restorative justice process.
In fact, restorative justice system response to wrongdoing that emphasizes healing the wounds of victims, offenders, and communities caused or revealed by crime (Schmalleger & Smykla, 2014, p.62). The main goal here is to establish a form of boundaries when it comes to the level and extent of punishment. Non one here on earth is allowed to just display deviant criminal behavior without some form of discipline and/or punishment. Furthermore, for those whom display criminal behavior disrupts the community as well. In addition deterrence is another key factor in the goals of punishment and the efforts to make it back right. Exploring further along to where restoration of the justice system have and still is occurring in today’s
Since the beginning there has been many crimes that have had severe consequences. These crimes are crimes such as rapes, genocide, murder, and aggravated assaults (CITE). The Restorative justice system tries to help individuals that have committed some of these crimes. Some of the Restorative justice system founders are John Braithwaite, Howard Zehr, and Mark Umbret .The Restorative justice system emerged in 1970 (CITE). The Restorative justice system is a response to crime and wrongdoing that emphasizes the repairing of the harm that was created, recognizes the importance of victim, offender, and community involvement, and promote positive future behavior (CITE). Restorative justice is a response to what was considered to be an overly harsh
Pros of the restorative justice system are that it brings parties together in crime. Instead of a short term goal, the restorative justice system takes a long-term approach to reducing crime and violence using different kinds of methods. In restorative justice programs, offenders work with others affected by their criminal actions. Restorative justice promotes instilling positive behaviors in young criminals and teaching long-lasting changes in behavior to prevent future crimes. There also could be negative consequences from the restorative justice system. For restorative justice to work, criminals and their victims must communicate about the crime and its consequences. Since violent crimes often leave victims feeling helpless and vulnerable, encouraging communication can result in increased anxiety and fear. Additionally, communication might breach confidentiality for victims of violent crimes, such as rape and assault, because they must discuss the outcome of the crime and how it has impacted
Greg Mantle, F. D., & Dhami, M. K. (2005). Restorative justice and three individual theories of crime. Internet Journal of Criminology IJC , 1-36. Retrieved from http://www.restorativejustice.org/articlesdb/articles/5914
(2013) separated emotional intelligence into four domains, self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management (pp. 30, 38). These domains are then broken into two competencies. Self-awareness, the understanding of one 's emotions and being clear about one 's purpose, and self-management, the focused drive and emotional self-control, make up the personal competence (pp. 39, 45-46). While social awareness, or empathy and service, and relationship management, the handling of other people 's emotions, make up the social competence (pp. 39, 48, 51). These emotional intelligence competencies are not innate talents, but learned abilities, each of which contribute to making leaders more resonant and effective (p. 38). This is good news for me because I still have much to develop in regards to emotional
Agreeing on a definition of restorative justice has proved difficult. One definition is a theory of justice that focuses mostly on repairing the harm caused by criminal behaviour. The reparation is done through a cooperative process that includes all the stakeholders. Restorative justice can also be explained as an approach of justice that aims to satisfy the needs of the victims and offenders, as well as the entire community. The most broadly accepted definition for restorative justice, however, is a process whereby all the parties that have a stake in a specific offence collectively resolve on how to deal with the aftermath. This process is largely focused around reparation, reintegration and participation of victims. That is to say, it is a victim-centred approach to criminal justice, and it perceives crime differently than the adversarial system of justice.
First, crime is harmful to all who are involved (Cullen & Jonson, 2017). Second, the aim of corrections ought to be to reverse the harm that has been done (Cullen & Jonson, 2017). Third, the abovementioned goal is accomplished by restoring all involved to their original state (Cullen & Jonson, 2017). These principles all coalesce to form what we know to be restorative justice.
...apabilities to deal with this which is not the case so much nowadays as Tony Marshall (1999) argues. There are criticisms over procedures, loss of rights such as an independent and impartial forum as well as the principle of proportionality in sentencing. There is also an unrealistic expectation that restorative justice can produce major changes in deviant behaviour, as there is not enough evidence to support this claim (Cunneen, 2007). Levrant et al (1999) on the other hand suggests that restorative justice still remains unproven in its’ effectiveness to stop reoffending and argues that its appeal lies in its apparent morality and humanistic sentiments rather than its empirical effectiveness. He continues to argue that it allows people to feel better within themselves through having the moral high ground rather than focusing on providing justice to the offender.
Emotional Intelligence, also known as ‘EI’, is defined as the ability to recognize, authoritize and evaluate emotions. The ability to control and express our own emotions is very important but so is our ability to understand, interpret and respond to the emotions of others. To be emotionally intelligent one must be able to perceive emotions, reason with emotions, understand emotions and manage emotions.
An individual’s ability to control and express their emotions is just as important as his/her ability to respond, understand, and interpret the emotions of others. The ability to do both of these things is emotional intelligence, which, it has been argued, is just as important if not more important than IQ (Cassady & Eissa, 2011). Emotional intelligence refers to one’s ability to perceive emotions, control them, and evaluate them. While some psychologists argue that it is innate, others claim that it is possible to learn and strengthen it. Academically, it has been referred to as social intelligence sub-set. This involves an individual’s ability to monitor their emotions and feelings, as well as those of others, and to differentiate them in a manner that allows the individuals to integrate them in their actions and thoughts (Cassady & Eissa, 2011).
When Mary Catherine Parris was told that I would be talking to her about restorative justice, her response was, “Is that a real thing?” (personal communication, September 23, 2015). Through this assignment I realized that restorative justice is not talked about within the criminal justice system. For both of the individuals I spoke with, the idea of restorative justice seemed like a joke. In trying to persuade them both that restorative justice is a real thing, I was met with very similar beliefs and comments from both individuals. They both believed that restorative justice would not work and believed that some aspects of the approach were completely useless (M. C. Parris, & R. Clemones, personal communication, September 23, 2015). The responses