andrewducker | Offenders to face victims

This is a fantastic idea (in certain circumstances). It should help both victims and perpetrators to move on.

People who commit crimes could avoid prosecution if they agree to face-to-face meetings with their victims and see the impact of their offences, it has been suggested.

Both victims and offenders would have to consent to taking part in the scheme with the perpetrator admitting to the offence.

Restorative justice has so far been confined largely to young offenders but will be stepped up to include more adult offenders, school bullies and anti-social hooligans.

Mr Blunkett said: "Restorative justice means victims can get an apology from their offender, but it is about more than 'saying sorry' - it provides the victim with an explanation of why the crime was committed.

"This is something a prison sentence on its own can never do and can enable victims to move on and carry on with their lives.

"It also means that for the first time offenders will be personally held to account for the crimes they have committed."

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"It also means that for the first time offenders will be personally held to account for the crimes they have committed."

Isn't that what a prison sentence means?

Personally, I think it's an awful idea. Let me see, prison sentence or meeting with victim, as a deterant to future crime.

Apologies don't make up for a crime.

And punishment doesn't tend to act as a detterant. At least not unless it's mixed in with other rehabilitation at the same time.

I'm not averse to punishment in addition to rehabilitation, but punishment by itself is just revenge, which doesn't make anything better.

Punishment does act as a deterrent - it just isn't as effective as we would like it to be (but I doubt it could ever achieve that). Locking people up does other things also. For a start it physically protects the rest of us from them while they are locked up contemplating their actions. It is also a means by which society can demonstrate how seriously a crime is considered. If you don't make these statements there are repercussions.

Another element is supposed to be rehabilitation...

...which is the real problem. We are absolutely crap at rehabilitation of criminals. Instead they tend to get educated and indoctrinated into a worse kind of culture while inside.

What he said.

I don't think the correction system is perfect (far from it), but it does keep criminals off the streets.

Keeping dangerous people off the streets is definitely a good thing. But unless you're going to lock them all up forever, you're going to have to do _something_ in there to make them not do it again.

And if you've got something that has that effect, and doesn't take long periods of time to do, then you can do it without the locking people up bit at all.

Some sort of middle ground will undoubtably be reached I'm sure. I'm just glad they're experimenting with different methods to see what works.

I wouldnt really be interested in an apology or a deterrent. If someone hurt me I'd want vengeance.

Prison does nothing except teach inmates to be sociopaths and to learn how to be better criminals. The threat prison makes sense as a deterrent, but the logic of placing people in a hellish place and then expecting them to adapt back to society in some useful fashion after their release has always baffled me. If handled well, this program sounds like a wonderful option to punitive justice.

Hey. I'm not really up to 'discussing' anything right now, but I just wanted to say I do sorta see what you're saying.

For me, it depends on the crime. I think murderers, rapists and child molesters should never be given the chance to reintegrate with society, so for them, jail works fine. IMHO, of course. And that was sorta who I was thinking about when I read that.

If you're talking, I don't know, robbery, or assault or something, then yeah, I guess prison doesn't solve anything. I mean, I can accept that first time offenders, who's crime is relatively small (don't ask me to measure what's small, and what isn't), deserve the chance not to do it again.

Continual abusers of the system though? What do you do if someone has no interest in being part of society?

Offenders to face victims

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