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Zehr's Definition Of Restorative Justice

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All of the different types of restorative justice are being used widely around the world. There is even an international celebration of restorative justice that lasts for a week! Since victim offender conferencing is the practice that is most widely used, it is rather well written about. Howard Zehr in The Little Book of Restorative Justice, Revised and Updated, explains that “some of us question the wisdom or usefulness of such a definition. While we recognize the need for principles and benchmarks, we worry about the arrogance and finality of establishing a rigid meaning,” (Zehr 2015). With this in mind, Zehr offers a working definition of restorative justice. He says restorative justice is an approach to achieving justice that involves, …show more content…

She also says, “if offenders believe that accountability is important in helping them move forward, they are often much more likely to participate”(Amstutz 2009, p.37). Most of the time offenders are reluctant to meeting their victims because it is difficult to face something like that. However twisted it may seem, the VOC meeting means something to offenders just as much as it means something to their victims. It means a confrontation is coming and questions will be answered and that is easier said than done for both …show more content…

Umbreit is a professor and founder of the Center for Restorative Justice and Peacemaking at the University of Minnesota, School of Social Work. In his article, “Restorative Justice Through Victim-Offender Mediation: A Multi-Site Assessment,” Umbreit (1998) discusses how several studies have shown that to crime victims, the restitution agreement is less important than being able to talk directly with their offender about their feelings in regards to the crime. This shows how most of the time victims want to know why them; why were they the ones targeted for the crime and why they were hurt in that way. Umbreit continues on to discuss how most of the time when victims are presented with the option of entering into a victim offender conference, they decide to go forward with it. Although Umbreit’s study was mainly focused on victims of property crimes, it still provided great information from another angle on how victims see the VOC

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