The Seductive Vision

They would feel genuine shame. * It seems that it’s very rare for the public to be happy with the verdict that the offenders generally receive. There is apparently a longing for something more. * Restorative Justice seems to have a deeper soul than the alternatives. * It’s positive for those who would be satisfied by seeing that the perpetrator is remorseful. * So it helps to personalize and bring meaning to justice, but it takes out the vengefulness. * It brings the elusive relationship between the victim and perpetrator into the open where it can be healed rather than ignored. The concept of justice generally brings about feelings of violence and consistency. If I were wronged I would want to throw the book at the perpetrator (with emphasis on throwing). * Justice probably isn’t supposed to be a nice thing. RJ seems to be wishful thinking. * Would I personally be able to sign up for the idea of RJ? * I don’t think I would be committed to healing a wrongdoing. * “Transformation of the world begins with transformation of ourselves”. * There are a lot of people in my life who have hurt me, and it’s not even a massive deal.

They didn’t kill my kid or anything, but I wouldn’t be willing to heal those wounds? How could I heal more serious ones? * I don’t have the will, or desire to repair such relationships. * “The more evil the crime, the greater the opportunity for grace to inspire a transformative will to resist tyranny with compassion”. * In my own opinion: It seems that we are in the form of justice we are in now because of the social contract theory. It stops people going around and getting their own revenge. This form of justice can take two positions. Either the victim is guilted or willing to forgive and forget.

Settle for an apology. Or the victim will want compensation. Money, labour, a new barn perhaps. Isn’t this the victim getting their revenge under state supervision? Will this not compel the offender to feel some kind of resentment toward the victim and then seek revenge? After all they had the opportunity to forgive and forget but they chose to send the offender to jail for 3 years. Won’t that compel the offender to seek revenge upon return? Seems like the original state of taking power out of the States control and people running rampant again. * Painful wrongs are harder to fix than smaller wrongs.

Harmony, mutuality, equality and reciprocity are hard to create in normal circumstances, let alone in toxic relationships. * “If one is only prepared to forgive what is forgivable, then the very idea of forgiveness would disappear. ” * “Forgiveness forgives only the unforgivable”. * It should be kind of like ethical bungee jumping. * So it might be easier to forgive big things than little things because there is no pride or glory in forgiving the forgivable. * Forgiveness is not as demanding as RJ though because forgiveness only requires a one off leap whereas RJ requires mutual equality and respect in an on-going relationship. So RJ advocates see forgiveness as an important part of RJ but it is right-relations that create the J aspect. * So for RJ to be achieved a person must continually work toward a relationship with the offender. * Why would one do it unless they were committed to an ethic of self-sacrifice and saintliness? Why would any sane person pour so many recourses into the least promising of relationships?

* So… if someone like me (a morally normal person, not a super saint, but not a monster either) is uninterested in doing this then how would one get an entire nation, or even world, to commit to such an idea? So an example was the man put in a wheelchair and the offenders that offered to look after him for 25 years. Why would the victim want them in his house? And more importantly, wouldn’t this mean that the victims avoid going to jail? Is that just? Could RJ be used as a means of tricking the victims into not sentencing prison time or death? * In medieval Iceland the killer of a man would have to take on the orphans of the victim and the children would generally be treated as a part of the family, not enslaved as you would presume they would be. But what if the perpetrators end up deciding after two weeks that they would rather just go to jail? Like someone that finds an abandoned puppy and takes it home but after 2 weeks realises it has become a source of overwhelming frustration and hostility. What if the perpetrators end up resenting the victim for all that he makes them do? * What if the perpetrators are not in a position to pay reparations? * If RJ were used universally this would mean there are huge disparities between rich and poor. If the victim wants $100,000 compensation a poor man would be unable to pay and would have to go to jail.

If the victim asks this of a wealthy man, his affluence will award him freedom. * So the seductive view of RJ is found in its emotive language like emotional healing, right-relations and respectful community. * RJ is promoted in Aboriginal and in Juvenile crime. Aboriginal RJ is promoted because it speaks to an old school culture of nature and love etc. A Juvenile has their whole life in front of them so it seems unfair to not give them a chance to make a means. It seems cynical to just abandon hope. * RJ seems like the perfect