- Joined
- Mar 4, 2019
Restorative Justice isn't about just talking or whatever. The people that promote it in that way are hack frauds, or ideologues who don't understand the structure behind it (or do understand and want to subvert it for their own ends). It's not just "criminal and victim talk, victim becomes enlightened by the criminal's lived experience, they hug and the criminal is forgiven", which is so blatantly stupid that I can't even begin to describe the depths of it.This sounds like the premise behind that "restorative justice" movement where problems are supposed to be resolved by simply talking out the differences or doing some other menial task that doesn't involve any sort of disciplinary action or accountability.
Restorative justice is deep, broad topic that covers everything from community mediation, to criminal rehabilitation, to workplace disputes, right up to national and international conflicts. The general form of the process is to seek restitution between conflicting parties, in a way that is mutually beneficial and conducive to better, or at least more tolerable co-existence. It's called restorative justice because it seeks to restore some element of life or stability that was lost by the involved parties.
In the criminal setting in particular, the idea is to help the victim move past the moment of the crime and perhaps understand where the criminal is coming from; but moreso to have the crim come face to face with the people they've victimised, so that they can see an understand the impact their actions have on the lives of others. The goal is that they will realise that there's a better path to take. Now I'll grant you, it doesn't work often in that setting, because repeat criminals are either retards or sociopaths, wh won't understand what's being asked of them. However, there are enough first-timers or low-level criminals who, when faced with the realisation that their victims are real people, will find it within themselves to try and make a better life. At the same time, the former target of their crime will hopefully find completion and resolution in helping the other person improve their life. That's why it's called restorative. It restores a sense of wholeness in the former victim and, ideally, restores a sense of purpose and social duty in the crim.
The problem is, a bunch of trendies and fuckwits have flipped the process on its head, making "restorative justice" be about brow-beating victims into forgiving the crim, who was obviously justified by his circumstances and shouldn't be persecuted in any way. Like so many things, it's a good idea that has been destroyed by the people seeking power.