Restorative Justice Policies Research Articles

Restorative Justice Policy on the Reduction of Crime Rates in Indonesia: A Narrative Review

Introduction: The concept of restorative justice is a popular alternative in various parts of the world for addressing unlawful acts (unlawful in the formal sense) because it offers comprehensive and practical solutions. Restorative justice aims to empower victims, offenders, families, and communities to rectify an unlawful act using awareness and remorse as the foundation for improving community life. Methods: This research employs a literature review approach, wherein the researcher collects relevant articles and literature to be examined and summarized descriptively to achieve comprehensive results and conclusions. Result: Restorative Justice is fundamentally a philosophy (a basic guideline) in out-of-court settlements using mediation or deliberation to achieve the justice desired by the parties involved in criminal law. However, more substantive rules are needed in practice to lead to a fair resolution through reconciliation, emphasizing restoration to the original state. Conclusion: Educational and awareness campaigns that can create harmonious reintegration for former offenders to return to society must be enhanced. Law enforcement officers also need to review regulations regarding implementing restorative justice to uphold the principle of justice.

Progressionism Restorative Justice Policies in Achieving Rehabilitative Criminal Justice

Progressionism Restorative Justice Policies in Achieving Rehabilitative Criminal Justice

The Role of the Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Indonesia in Optimizing Restorative Justice Policy in Indonesia

The Role of the Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Indonesia in Optimizing Restorative Justice Policy in Indonesia

A review of restorative justice programmes for First Nations Peoples in Queensland

ABSTRACT This paper reports on the development and implementation of restorative justice policy and practice for First Nations Peoples in Queensland. Using diverse public source materials to produce a summary history and assessment of the Queensland experience, the study found that restorative justice can provide an appropriate response to crime within First Nations communities, but that programmes have had limited application and utilisation to-date. The findings suggest that programmes must involve First Nations Peoples in programme design and delivery, while addressing the systemic disadvantages faced by these communities through a substantial increase in government investment. The study identified the need for increased application of restorative justice and enhanced research on programme outcomes; acknowledging the need to increase attention to victims’ needs and experiences. The paper also recognised the need for more First Nations led research to explore how restorative justice programmes can be enhanced to improve outcomes for First Nations Peoples.

Restorative Justice Paradigm

The paradigm shift from retributive justice to restorative justice has encouraged institutional awareness that restorative justice methods are alternatives that need to be strengthened both in terms of policy and practice. This has prompted law enforcement agencies to begin drafting and enforcing restorative justice policies in the criminal case settlement process. The purpose of this research is to analyze the working process of restorative justice policies through their implementation practices in each institution that focuses on various criminal justice institutions in Pontianak City. This study will describe the factors that influence the process of working in restorative justice by elaborating on the paradigm of law enforcement officers, policies at their institutions, and their experiences and practices. The method used is normative-empirical legal research as research on law enforcement in concreto. Although the paradigm of punishment has shifted towards a restorative paradigm, the findings in the field showed frequent obstacles. First, cross-sectoral regulatory factors that regulate restorative justice mechanisms with different mechanisms. Second, the weak integration of the criminal justice system as seen in practice between the Pontianak Police and the Pontianak District Attorney Office has not shown the integration of the criminal justice system in the corridor of enforcing the principle of functional differentiation. Third, the factor of criminal law policy is overcriminalistic so it is still overshadowed by the retributive and punitive colonial paradigm. Fourth, factor in the small period of time in the prosecutor's office due to tiered assessments within the structural corridors of leadership. Fifth, the legal culture factor of society is still mostly punitive.
 Keywords: Paradigm; Restorative Justice; Criminal Justice System

Implementation of Restorative Justice Policy against Perpetrators of Criminal Negligence that Causes Death

Requests for termination of prosecution against perpetrators of criminal negligence causing death can be rejected or granted even though they use the same technical guidelines, namely Circular Letter of the Deputy Attorney General for General Crimes Number 01/E/EJP/02/2022. The research focuses on understanding the policy parameters of restorative justice for perpetrators of criminal negligence causing death and the ideal implementation of restorative justice for perpetrators of criminal negligence. This research is a normative juridical research with statutory approach, case approach, and conceptual approach. Restorative Justice Application is granted because the parameters of negligent acts are not purely in the perpetrator but also carried out by the victim himself, while the application is rejected because culpa only comes from the actions of the perpetrator. The ideal implementation of restorative justice policy must lead to efforts to restore the original state, no negative stigma from the community, and oriented to technical efficiency and legal certainty for the parties. Suggestions from the research results are that case termination based on restorative justice requires certainty in technical regulations, for example through the Attorney General's Regulation. The ideal implementation of restorative justice policy must pay attention to: a unified written policy / lex scripta that can be accessed by the public, can be tested, integrative between judicial mechanisms and pay attention to functional differentiation of criminal justice, as well as harmonization of subjects and objects in prosecution.

Restorative Justice Policy as Legal Politics for Handling Corruption Crimes in Indonesia

Restorative Justice Policy as Legal Politics for Handling Corruption Crimes in Indonesia

The Essential Role of Human Service Nonprofits in Restorative Justice Policy Implementation

Abstract Evidence demonstrating the essential role of human service nonprofits in restoring justice to communities has led to an increased need in understanding how these nonprofits view their service delivery role in relation to the state in a restorative justice context. Despite the increase in funding dedicated to restorative justice programs and increased collaborations between states and nonprofits, few studies have explored perceptions of collaborative restorative justice roles in state-led initiatives. This exploratory qualitative study uses semi-structured interviews to understand how leaders in these programs view their organization’s roles in restorative justice implementation. The analysis evaluates the variations in perceptions among nonprofits leaders as well as the differences in perceptions between nonprofit versus public managers/policy makers. Results indicate that nonprofit leaders and public managers/policy makers view nonprofits as pivotal to restorative justice policy implementation given their capacity to engage in grassroots problem-solving and develop strengths-based programs.

Utilization Of Restorative Justice In The Handling Of Child Crimes From The Perspective Of Utilities Theory

In essence, everyone who commits a crime will face legal consequences, even minors. Although restorative justice policies and procedures for juvenile offenders have been developed, they have not yet been fully put into practice. The truth is that not all police detectives at the regional sector level comprehend how to use restorative justice to resolve juvenile criminal cases. The purpose of this study is to comprehend and evaluate the paradigm of restorative justice for juvenile offenders from a utility theory standpoint. The difficulties in applying restorative justice to juvenile offenders at the police level are also examined in this study. This study is a normative, legal, descriptive, and analytical study. Secondary data were used in this study, and they were gathered by employing library research techniques. A qualitative method is used in data analysis. The study's findings demonstrate that applying restorative justice to kids who break the law is essentially protecting kids from the law itself, with the goal that kids will still be protected even when mistakes are made. The use of restorative justice is a type of legal benefit from the standpoint of legal advantages. The community benefits from the law that has been created by the government, including both those who are criminals and those who are among their victims. In other words, the law is not only created to punish, but also to protect, advance the law, and benefit society. Second, that barriers to the use of restorative justice can be divided into two categories: internal barriers arising from the juvenile offenders and external barriers in the form of community environmental barriers, family barriers, juvenile officer barriers, and juvenile mediator barriers.

Legal Reconstruction of the Prosecutor Authority in the Settlement of Juvenile Crime Based on Pancasila Restorative Justice

Oversight of the case settlement process using a restorative justice approach and the implementation of the resulting agreement rests with the direct supervisor of the responsible official at each level of examination. As long as the restorative justice process takes place and after restorative justice is carried out, social counselors are required to provide guidance and supervision. If the restorative justice agreement is not carried out within the time specified in the agreement, the social adviser immediately reports to the responsible official. The approach method used in this study is the juridical-normative research method, which is a research method that examines secondary data (data that has been documented). The results of this study are (1) Weaknesses of restorative justice policies in cases of children as perpetrators of crimes are Weaknesses in Legal Substance is Article 7 of the Juvenile Criminal Justice System Law which explains the implementation of diversion at the level of investigation, prosecution, and examination of child cases in District Court. The weakness of the legal structure is that law enforcement officials, especially the National Police, who are part of the criminal justice subsystem, are required to seek settlement of child cases as perpetrators of crimes through restorative justice. The weakness of the Legal Culture is the low level of public understanding in terms of understanding the investigation process through diversion, where often the parties (perpetrators and victims) ask for diversion even though the formal requirements for diversion are not fulfilled/the threat is more than 7 years and is a repetition of a crime. (3) Reconstruction of Article 140 (2) letter (a) by adding a termination of prosecution based on the concept of restorative justice.

Offending girls and restorative justice: exploring practitioners’ perspectives on the relevance of, and rationale for, gender-specific provision

Despite the global popularity of restorative justice that has emerged in recent decades, limited attention has been paid to restorative justice conferencing used with offending girls. This article critically analyses restorative justice practitioners’ views concerning gender-specific practice and outcomes in restorative justice conferencing used with girls who offend. It is argued that restorative justice policy and practice has developed in a gender-blind framework, which fails to recognise or respond to the gender-specific needs and experiences of girls who offend. Drawing upon empirical findings, the article conceptualises, through a feminist-informed framework, the practical and policy implications arising from the gender-blind approaches of restorative justice conferencing.

Restorative Justice for Users of Narcotics Through Implementation of Depenalization

Restorative Justice is a policy that puts a focus on recovery rather than retaliation. The Restorative Justice implementation, considered more effective in terms of Justice and effectiveness, makes the Restorative Justice policy renewal of the criminal law system in Indonesia. The writing of this article uses a descriptive-analytical research method that prioritizes a normative juridical approach, with the formulation of the problem regarding the role of Restorative Justice as an effort to reform criminal law and the implementation of Restorative Justice as an alternative step in law enforcement for narcotics crimes. The result of this article is that the policy regarding Restorative Justice in its application is an update in law, especially criminal law. Conventional Justice Policies which are considered ineffective in their application are now being updated through the Restorative Justice policy; in addition to the context of the application, which is not only applied within the scope of general criminal law, in Narcotics crimes, a criminal settlement mechanism is also applied using Restorative Justice policies as stated in the Circular Letter of the Supreme Court Number 4 of 2010 concerning Placement of Abuse, Victims of Abuse and Narcotics Addicts into Medical and Social Rehabilitation Institutions (SEMA.4/2010). Rehabilitation of a Narcotics defendant can be carried out if it meets the requirements described in the regulation.

Institutionalising restorative justice for adults in Scotland: An empirical study of criminal justice practitioners’ perspectives

While in some European and extra-European countries the incorporation of restorative justice into policy frameworks is a dated and widely studied phenomenon, in others it is a more recent and scarcely researched process. The Scottish Government is making renewed efforts to institutionalise restorative justice including the ambitious goal of making adult restorative justice available nationwide by 2023. In this article, we analyse the consequences of these recent attempts, addressing a gap in knowledge on adult restorative justice in Scotland. We gathered views from justice professionals ( n = 17), involved in organising and delivering adult restorative justice, on the implementation of the policy and the future of Scottish restorative justice. Findings show that participants support expanding restorative justice services, but are sceptical about the Scottish Government’s approach. They advocate for a coordinated but locally sensitive model of restorative justice development, to some extent challenging the stark opposition between ‘purist’ and ‘maximalist’ approaches to the expansion of restorative justice. These findings generate evidence to critically assess Scottish restorative justice policy and its implementation, while drawing implications for the development of restorative justice across Europe.

Associations between state-level restorative justice policies and mental health among women survivors of intimate partner violence

Intimate partner violence (IPV) can impact the mental health of survivors; however, little is known about the role of state-level restorative justice policies. Restorative justice policies are survivor-centered justice approaches focused on repairing harm between the survivor and perpetrator, which may buffer mental health outcomes among IPV survivors. Furthermore, the impact of restorative justice policies on mental health may be influenced by the degree of state-level support for policy implementation. This study examined the relationship between (1) IPV exposure and mental health and whether restorative justice policies moderate the relationship; and (2) whether restorative justice policy implementation support moderates the relationship between IPV and mental health among women. Data on state restorative justice policies were drawn from a U.S. restorative justice legislation database. Individual-level data on 5104 adult women were collected from the 2010 National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS), a nationally representative study of noninstitutionalized adult women and men. Generalized estimating equation (GEE) models were conducted to examine associations between IPV, state-level restorative justice policies, restorative justice policy implementation support, and perceived mental health (N ​= ​5104). Women who experienced IPV had worse perceived mental health compared to women without IPV (b [95% CI] ​= ​−0.13 [−0.15, −0.11], p ​< ​0.001). The inverse relationship between IPV and survivor mental health was attenuated in states with a restorative justice policy vs. states without (b [95% CI] ​= ​0.05 [0.00, 0.09], p ​= ​0.038). The relationship between IPV and worse survivor mental health was weakest in states with high restorative justice policy implementation support (b [95% CI] ​= ​0.03 [0.00, 0.05], p ​= ​0.032). Restorative justice policies may serve as a scalable tool to reduce negative mental health sequelae related to IPV and strengthen current justice responses for IPV survivors.

Restorative Justice Policy as Criminal Settlement in The Law of Information and Electronic Transaction (ITE)

Restorative justice in conflict resolution is an effort to resolve between criminals and victims of crime in criminal cases directly. More specifically, restorative justice seeks a way out by considering the good for all parties, be it for the perpetrator, the victim, or the victim's family. This article defines the basic concept of applying the Restorative Justice Policy as the settlement of criminal cases in the Electronic Information and Transaction Law. This article is a qualitative research using a conceptual normative approach. Data were collected through literature study, then analyzed using a data reduction process, data presentation and conclusion drawing. The application of Restorative Justice as a settlement of criminal cases as regulated in the legislation concerning Electronic Information and Transactions (UU ITE) is deemed appropriate considering that in the settlement of criminal cases, investigators must have the principle of prioritizing restorative justice in case settlement, and criminal law is the last resort that can be used. carried out as an effort to enforce the law (ultimum remidium), as stated in the Circular Letter Number: SE/2/11/2021 and the Chief of Police's Telegram Letter No. ST/339/II/RES.1.1.1./2021. With the process of returning to its original state (peace between the two parties), then criminal cases can be resolved and there is no need to continue the process in the judicial process.

The impact of school’s security and restorative justice measures on school violence

Scholars have spent considerable time assessing the utility of school policies and practices designed to make schools safer, many focusing on exploring the relationship between security measures and school violence (Peguero et al., 2018). However, to date, there has been a lack of research examining the simultaneous effects of both school security mechanisms and school restorative justice measures on school violence. To help fill this gap in the literature, the current study examined the relationship between school security measures, restorative justice policies, and incidents of school violence using data from the 2018 School Survey on Crime and Safety. Findings indicated that security measures and school demographic characteristics had greater effects on school violence than did restorative justice measures; however, there were differences noted between models that examined violent incidents indicated by school personnel and violent incidents reported to police. In light of these findings, implications designed to curb school violence are discussed within.

Discursive representations of restorative justice in international policies

The European Directive 2012/29/EU establishing minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime, the Council of Europe Recommendation CM/Rec(2018)8 concerning restorative justice in criminal matters, and the recently updated United Nations Handbook on Restorative Justice Programmes testify to the increasing policy recognition of restorative justice at the international level. And yet, despite the vast and burgeoning literature on restorative justice, limited research and critical analysis have been conducted on policies, and even less on international policies and instruments. As a result, we know little about how restorative justice is framed within policy and how such framings could contribute towards the development of this field in practice. Addressing this gap, this article seeks to understand the ways in which restorative justice is construed within international policies and their conditions of possibility, using a ‘policy-as-discourse’ analytical approach. The article also elicits implications for the study of the relationships between restorative justice policy and practice and for future research on the institutionalization of this ‘new’ frontier of penality internationally.

Restorative Justice, Crime Victims and Penal Welfarism. Mapping and Contextualising Restorative Justice Policy in Scotland

While the criminological literature is abundant in studies on the functioning and effectiveness of restorative justice, there is a lack of engagement with policy on this subject, in spite of the increasing incorporation of restorative justice into policy frameworks. This paper contributes towards addressing this gap by mapping and discussing Scottish policy on restorative justice. The focus is placed on how policy frames restorative justice around certain problems, subjects and objects, reconstructing their underlying assumptions. Additionally, the paper analyses the cultural and political context within which those representations have emerged. From this perspective, it enhances the legibility of the particularly slow and fragmentary development of restorative justice in Scotland, compared to the rest of the UK. More generally, the paper provides an original (and relevant beyond British borders) case study on the interplay between cross-national and local, cultural and political factors in influencing policy change.

“Here, It’s Like You Don’t Have to Leave the Classroom to Solve a Problem”: How Restorative Justice in Schools Contributes to Students’ Individual and Collective Sense of Coherence

Students face innumerable stressors, in and outside of schools. Some schools are better able to support students to thrive, individually and collectively, in the midst of these stressors. Drawing on a qualitative case study of a restorative justice approach in a Canadian primary school, this article explores the role of restorative justice in facilitating student well-being. To interpret this research, I mobilize Antonovsky’s (Health, stress and coping. Jossey-Bass Publishers, San Francisco, 1979) “sense of coherence” concept: individuals are most likely to thrive when they perceive their lives as comprehensible, manageable and meaningful. Based on the data, I argue that the Canadian school’s restorative justice policies and practices helped students make sense of complexity within their school lives, building within them a strong sense of individual and collective coherence.

Restorative Justice Policy in Context: A Legal-Archaeological Analysis

This paper provides an original, in-depth analysis of English and Welsh criminal and penal policy on restorative justice. By using a historically-discursive approach—legal archaeology—this study firstly outlines the overarching representations of restorative justice within policy, unpacking their internal organisation. Then, it interprets such patterns of knowledge in light of specific cultural, political and professional transformations involving the Anglo-Welsh criminal justice field over the last 30 years. Along these lines, it generates a historically documented policy map whilst problematising the taken-for-granted images of restorative justice which populate regulations, codes and laws. This has implications for the study of the relationships between restorative justice policy and practice and for future research on the institutionalisation of this ‘new’ frontier of penality. More generally, the exploration of (unexpected) links between policy, politics and culture, provides material for a critical assessment of how state agencies appropriate community-based and practice-led forms of justice.