Abstract
Restorative justice, with its most prominent characteristic being rebuilding social relationships among victims, perpetrators and the community that was damaged by a crime, has been proposed as an alternative to the traditional retributive justice model to treat criminal acts. Both secular and religious groundings exist for restorative justice, and religious theorists have developed theological groundings for restorative justice based on scripture and other sources. In this article, I will explore how a theologically grounded restorative justice model, focusing on Christopher Marshall’s theological exposition of restorative justice, can contribute to the thought and action of Christians and the larger public in the face of the moral injury caused by human trafficking. I will address how this model can also contribute to social structural change. In my analysis, I will employ a case study of North Korean stateless women who reside in China and who are victims of human trafficking.
Highlights
Restorative justice has been proposed and practised as an alternative to retributive justice in the treatment of criminal acts since the early 1990s
Both secular and religious groundings exist for restorative justice, and religious theorists have developed theological groundings for restorative justice based on scripture and other sources, including ethics and public theology
I will explore how theologically grounded restorative justice can contribute to the formulation of thought and action of Christians and the larger public in the face of the moral injury of human trafficking and how this model can call for interpersonal repentance and for communal remorse and social structural changes
Summary
Restorative justice has been proposed and practised as an alternative to retributive justice in the treatment of criminal acts since the early 1990s. The human rights violations of North Korean trafficked women in China are caused by the interpersonal relationships between the victims and the traffickers, husbands and/or families, but it is instigated and intensified by social structures It is caused by politically related countries’ minimal and inadequate response to the crime of trafficking. The justice of God can be accomplished through the community’s efforts to turn the victims into active and participating members of the community (Marshall 2005:12) This role of community can challenge the status quo, uphold God’s covenant for the maintenance of right relationship between individuals in the community and restore the moral order of shalom (Zehr 2015:142–143). In promoting North Korean trafficked women’s recovery from injuries and human rights violations, theologically grounded restorative justice can inform the attitudes and responsibilities that each involved party should take. The open forums would contribute to such accountability, raise public awareness, lead to institutional changes and locate support at a local, national and international level
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