Policing is not all about Arresting people and putting them in jail. Police are not out there to ruin someone's future. There are plenty of different types of justice that do not leave a mark on your record and can put you on a path to a bright future. One of these different types of justice is called Restorative Justice. This form of justice takes Minor non violent offenders such as Vandalism, minor theft, and other charges that most young kids will commit and gives them a second chance. It is mostly used on young children and older juveniles to fix the damages they caused by committing these minor crimes. This is not something that can be used on a violent offender such as assault, rape, or murder because those things are not typically mistakes. The only violent offense that can really be put in restorative justice is minor assault such as two kids getting into a fight which now is such a terrible thing.
According to Officer Greg Ruprecht restorative justice can take up to several months. It starts by the offender or offenders admitting to what they did wrong. Without this step restorative justice will not happen because it is a kind of healing process and if you do not believe you did something wrong then it will not work. You take everyone involved like the offender, victim, parents of both victim and offender, and anyone else involved in the offense. Everyone sits down and talks about what happened and discuss what happened and the pain that was caused. After this is done they discuss what can be done to make up for this. This is a lot more effective with victims than someone going to jail. With this maybe the offender can work for the victim, help them with yard work, do some housework for them, do food shopping for them, anything to help make up for the pain or damage they had caused. This allows closure where someone going to jail and not getting better does not allow closure. With restorative justice there is a very high chance that the offender will not reoffend but in jail, prison, or probation the offender is not really treated like a human and reoffending is common.
Ruprecht had an event happen to him that changed his whole picture of Restorative Justice. He was working the night shift because he was a knew police officer. Around 8 young kids between 10- 13 years old had broken into an abandoned chemical factory. Just stupid kids doing stupid stuff we have all done it. But he went in with his dog and the kids ran. They ended up in a field and the kids were hiding. Officer greg had his gun drawn and the dog ready to go before the kids came out of hiding. He then realized that he could have seriously hurt these kids and he didn't want to ruin their futures. This is when he decided to turn to restorative justice but he was still skeptical until he had gone through it and realized it is a useful tool in policing. He since then has used it in multiple cases and even adult cases and can see that it is very successful.
This form of justice gives people a chance to change their lives and also educates some police officers on better ways to do their jobs. They are their to help not just put us in jail or fine us.
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Sources:
Rowan university criminal justice program Videos. (n.d.). Retrieved April 17, 2016, from http://posi-party.org/articles/rowan-university-criminal-justice-program-2305104.html
About Restorative Justice. (n.d.). Retrieved April 17, 2016, from http://restorativejustice.org/restorative-justice/about-restorative-justice/
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