The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development join hands with the international community to celebrate the restorative justice week. The week draws attention to alternative and restorative means of dealing with crime and general disturbance in societal cohesion.
A number of community engagements facilitated by the department’s regional offices are undergoing in the different provinces of the country. The Gauteng region of the department of the department together with other officials in the JCPS cluster today met with community members in Eldorado Park to raise awareness of the restorative justice approach and encourage communities to take advantage of its benefits.
The restorative justice approach has far reaching benefits to the society’s peace and stability as it prevents reoffending, empowers victims by giving them a voice and allows for greater possibility for restitution and compensation and also enhances community involvement in dispute resolution processes.
Most of the community members are beginning to use it in resolving various disputes. As indicated in the previous JCPS Cluster media briefing, in total 88 497 cases were finalised through the Alternative Dispute Resolution Mechanism (ADRM), which constitutes 24.3% improvement against a target of 71 190.
The restorative justice approach moves from the premise that the impact of crime affects both the victims and community and seeks to restore the harm caused by criminal activities.
Its aim is to involve parties to a dispute as well as others affected by the dispute in a process that seeks to collectively identify the harm, the needs and obligations through accepting responsibilities, making restitution, and taking measures to prevent a recurrence of the incident whilst at the same time promoting reconciliation.
This approach to resolving the consternations caused by the commission of a criminal act, is founded on various principles, which include the need to put right the harms caused by the offence(individual, relational, social), to heal victims, offenders, and communities that have been injured by crime; create a balance between holding the offender accountable while addressing the needs of those harmed by the offence; encouraging involvement and dialogue to the greatest extent possible by the main participants in determining responses to the disputes and building understanding for the reality of parties (for example not excluding any options such as direct encounter, letter or video exchange); transforming the relationship between government and communities into one of collaborative problem-solving; and nurture strengths and affirming the dignity of participants, particularly their abilities as responsible moral agents, as opposed to punishing or degrading them.
The approach is implementable at any stage in the criminal justice and can take place before, during, or after trial. The point in the criminal justice system at which a restorative process is conducted, will depend on the seriousness of the offence, as well as the willingness of the parties involved. Most of the victims across the country have welcomed this approach which is currently being practiced around the country.
Generally, a very serious offence would not be dealt with at a pre-trial level, but either at a sentencing or post-sentencing level, depending on the circumstances and the people involved.
Restorative processes include stakeholders not traditionally involved in criminal or other adversarial processes and aim to ensure that as many stakeholder concerns as possible are addressed in the response to the crime. Examples of restorative justice processes include victim offender mediation, conferencing, panels, circles, dialogues and conversations.
Although all parties may be responsible for the event and/or the outcomes, Restorative usually provides space for wrong-doing to be named and the process is designed to ensure that satisfactory and appropriate accountability occurs.
As a general starting point, restorative justice practice places a high premium on the principle of non-coercion and voluntary participation.
Enquiries:
Advocate Mthunzi Mhaga, Spokesperson
Cell: 083 641 8141
E-mail: Mediaenquiries@justice.gov.za
