"Restorative justice is a victim-centred response to crime that allows the victims, the offenders, their families, and representatives of the community to address the harm caused by the crime" Umbrait.
These quotes emphasize that Restorative Justice (RJ) is aimed at the response of the offenders, the victim, the family and the community to the criminal act caused by the perpetrator as well as the solution and accountability of the offenders to settle the criminal case.Â
This shows the important role of all elements involved in a criminal case, including the victim's family, the offenders family and community members in the settlement of criminal cases. RJ is also seen as a process of achieving justice using an understanding between the two warring parties. This paper will briefly discuss the RJ concept concerning the criminal case settlement process.
Development of Restorative Justice in the World
Restorative justice first put forward by Albert Eglash in his article discussing reparation, that RJ is a restitutive approach to a retributive and rehabilitative justice approach. In its development, this RJ has been applied to the Government of Canada in 1970, namely by introducing a criminal case settlement program outside of traditional justice implemented by the community. This term is known as victim-offender mediation.Â
The settlement of criminal cases is used to resolve cases of juvenile offences where the offenders and the victim are brought together to settle the criminal case through an agreement between the two parties. As a result, this process provides benefits between the two parties, namely in addition to reducing the recidivist rate, also gives a sense of responsibility to the child (offender) to the child (victim) to carry out compensation as a criminal settlement process. Apart from that, it also gives a special sense of satisfaction to the children who are fighting in comparison to the judicial process which is carried out based on the rules set by the community.
In line with the birth of RJ, the concept of settlement of criminal cases has developed quite rapidly, one of which is the formation of practice groups in countries such as the continent of Australia, Europe and America. The application was initiated into four RJ practice groups, namely;
- Victim Offender Mediation(VOM)
Namely, it is the interest and authority for victims to participate in the process of solving criminal cases by discussing with the perpetrators so that the perpetrators can be held accountable for their behaviour.
- Family Group Conferencing (FGC)
- That is, the family, as well as local traditional leaders, have a role in the process of solving children's cases.
- CirclesÂ
Namely, the process of resolving criminal cases by way of bringing together the perpetrator and the victim as well as the families of both parties to find solutions or solutions to children's problems.
- Restorative Board / Panels
Namely, the process of criminal settlement by way of discussion, where the victim's family will discuss with the perpetrator to be accountable for the treatment he did.
