Free Law Dissertations - It Is Simple To Suppose That Prisoners Are Not Human Beings. In Some Way
It is simple to suppose that prisoners are not human beings. In some way once an individual is found guilty of a crime and incarcerated, they become, in the sense of the law, almost more like an object than a person. Many prisoners suffer the loss of not only their independence, but their right to vote, their ability to settle with victims of their crimes, their right to personal safety, their right to parent, their right to be assumed innocent until proven guilty and indeed their right to dignity.
A requirement for punishment and retribution is the compelling philosophy behind our penal system. But is incarceration always necessary for those who have committed a crime and, moreover, what of those defendants who will not repeat the crime? Furthermore, the adult prison population in England and Wales has grown from 36,000 in 1991 to 62,000 in 2003. Indeed, this is one of the central problems facing contemporary penal policy and another reason why we should seek alternatives to incarceration. This essay considers the need for restorative justice as a substitute for incarceration in many cases.
Restorative justice is one of the most commonly considered advancements in the region of crime and justice. Its proponents argue that retributive justice, society’s conventional answer to crime, neither meets the needs of crime victims nor prevents re-offending. Instead, it supposes a disconnected, adversarial procedure and ‘sees crime as a violation of the state, defined by law breaking and the establishing of guilt. It determines blame and administers punishment in a contest between the offender and the state.’ As an substitute, they suggest, should be restorative justice, in which families and communities of offenders persuade them to take responsibilities for the consequence of their conduct, express repentance and restore the destruction that they have caused:
Restorative justice encourages all of us involved in the criminal justice system to see justice in a new light. In many cases it helps victims of crime have a say in what happens to an offender. It can also be part of the rehabilitation process for offenders themselves.
Restorative justice is about helping every victim get over the crime they’ve suffered. When a victim chooses to meet the offender it often helps them feel safer and more satisfied that justice has been done.
So as we reform the criminal justice system to put victims and communities first, restorative justice should have a key place at the heart of our reforms.
The fundamental rudiments of restorative justice symbolize a procedure based, among other things, on values of participation, respect, honesty, accountability and empowerment. As established by the Home Office, restorative justice is not a ‘unified concept.
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