Juhi Dwivedi, Amity University Noida
Introduction
In public discourse it is commonly taken for granted that the usual response to the commission of a crime should, when possible, be a court trial followed by judicial punishment of the perpetrator. However, reformers have long searched for a better, & especially less destructive & more effective, responses to crime. The latest result of this search is restorative justice.
Advocates of restorative justice suggest that, once the facts of a crime have been established, our priority should not be just to punish the offender but:
a) To meet the victim’s needs, &
b) To ensure that the offender is fully aware of the damage they have caused to people & of their liability to repair that damage.
Achieving such goals, requires something other than a formal criminal trial & judicial punishment.
