Restorative Justice Research Paper

Abstract

When equipment is stolen from a small business, it places the business in a difficult situation especially if the business doesn’t have back-up equipment or insurance to quickly replace the items stolen in order to keep the business running smoothly. As devastating as the lost could be to the small business, I believe that the offender still has an opportunity to make things right with the owner via restorative justice.

In Rome Georgia at a storage facility, thieves made their way inside a fenced in area and gained access to a trailer containing lawn equipment consisting of leaf blowers and weed trimmers, the thieves made their way on to the property some time before 7am and made off with the stolen equipment. The police

There were arrests made in the case, and I’m sure that the owner of the equipment suffered some kind of loss to his or her business however I still believe that all hope is lost for the thief or the owner if the values of restorative justice are applied. I consider the outcome of this crime to be restorative simply because the victim was harmed via equipment loss, I can’t imagine that he or she would be unwilling to meet with the offender who more than likely sold the equipment to make a quick buck for whatever reason and try to come to an understanding as to why they felt the need to steal. After getting to the bottom of why, then they could move forward to what can be done in order to rectify the situation; this could come in the form the offender repaying the two thousand in restitution to the owner for the stolen equipment or the offender could work off his or her debt by doing community service working for the owner for free until the debt is repaid. In many cases the two suggestive opportunities would and could be coupled with jail or prison time as a punishment but in this particular case I the padded punishment isn’t necessary, most offender never have the opportunity to sit down

Having empathy for the victim and being willing to change will have the trickledown affect as well, the offender will then realize what he or she is doing is and was wrong, which will stop them from committing crimes and they can teach their children, children within the community or just anyone who doesn’t have any remorse for committing crimes. The basis of restorative justice is the understanding of forgiveness, the willingness to believe that people can change if they truly wish to change and continual support of the offender in order to prevent similar future crimes from happening by showing them respect, hopefulness and that sometimes people are misguided, making mistakes and bad decisions. Using these principles offender can positively move forward in their lives not changing them for the better but also being equipped with the tools to