Paper Sample on Transformative Paths: Restorative Justice in Education - A Comprehensive Exploration

Introduction

Around the globe, people in various countries increasingly express their displeasure and frustration with the existing concept of the justice system, which has led to the search for a new form of the justice system (Armour, 2012). The investigation resulted in the resurgence of the old-fashioned methods of a justice system that existed before colonialism began in Africa, Asia, and North America (Hand et al., 2012). The gaps in the current justice systems worldwide have necessitated a need to have a system that respects, preserves, and reinforces the customary law, a new method of dealing with law-breaking and social misconduct.

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The alternative approaches to the traditional justice system involve a system that avails an opportunity for the offender, crime victims, and the community to be involved in the conflict resolution process by finding ways to maintain the society's balance. Hence the concept of the restorative justice system was fashioned (Hayes, 2005). The restorative justice system is founded on the conviction that all the individuals involved in a conflict should actively resolve the dispute and take responsibility for their misdemeanors. Restorative justice also aims at community building by encouraging diplomatic negotiations and expressions, promoting inclusiveness and acceptance, developing moral behaviors, and promoting accountability.

The restorative Justice System has found its way into the mainstream justice system worldwide with different degrees of success. The program's implementation was mainly developed for young offenders; for example, it was done by introducing family group conferencing in New Zealand. In Northern Ireland, the program adopted adolescent conferencing for juvenile offenders was conducted through the introduction of youth conferencing (Shapland, 2014). Other restorative justice programs include the circle sentencing in Australia and Canada and mediation in Northern America and Europe. With mainstreaming restorative justice, various issues arise, such as dealing with a wide range of offenses such as sexual offenses, corporate offenses, and severe violence cases. Human rights problems have also cropped up, such as offenders' rights in seeking legal counsel (Shapland, 2014).

Though Restorative Justice Practice has more been leaning towards the criminal justice system, its concept has been implemented in various fields such as social work, prisons, and schools where it is used to enhance discipline among students and other types of conflicts. In schools, the teachers and school management have widely implemented restorative justice in combating vices such as bullying and other behavioral issues (WeAreTeachers Staff, 2019).

The paper seeks to discuss the concept and practice of Restorative Justice in the judicial system and later in the learning institutions and how its use in the school setting creates confusion, limitations, and barriers. Hence the need to rename and re-conceptualize the practice into a new concept makes a new theory called 'Relationship First.' But first, the paper unpacks the idea of Restorative Justice, its meaning, and the challenges around the way the concept is used and understood. Next, the article turns to the movement toward the use of Restorative Justice in the education sector and unpacks the tensions between Restorative Justice, the idea of victim and lawbreaker coming together through intervention, and how it is discussed in the context of education.

The paper then talks about the barriers and limitations of Restorative Justice in Education. Next, by disambiguating Restorative Justice and Relationships, including the priority placed on relationships within the contexts of restoration, prevention, harmony, and accountability. The paper moves to demonstrate how the concept of Relationships First came to fruition, what is meant by relationship First, and how the idea responds to criticisms of Restorative Justice in Education. The paper then concludes by speaking to the current and future practices and the potentiality of Relationships First in education, for teachers, students, and parents.

Definition of Key Concepts

Restorative Justice

There is a lack of a globally accepted description of restorative justice. Simultaneously, the practice has evolved in the various sectors, as the definition of and meaning of its term. The term from its early inception has undergone changes through diffusion and being hybridized. Hence debates about the proper definition have ensued over a long period (Wood & Suzuki, 2016). To define restorative justice, we will begin by referring to the dictionary definition word by word.

‘Restorative.' The term ‘Restorative' According to the Oxford online dictionary as an adjective 'Restorative' is defined as "having the ability to restore health, strength, or well-being" As a noun, the term 'Restorative' refers to a thing that restores health, strength, or well-being, especially a medicine or drink.

A strong theme that arises here is that 'Restorative' refers to putting something back into a more "functioning" form that restores a person's health, place, and thing to its whole or to something as close to it as possible. The definition almost suggests repairing the damage; thus, we may also want to move away from restorative use because using the term, in essence, indicates someone or a thing isn't 'working' anymore, meaning it is damaged and needs to be restored or fixed. When broken, relationships, just as objects, can be improved and restored as people learn to get along and understand each other.

'Justice.' According to the online Oxford dictionary, the term' Justice, is described as the act of being impartial and sensible and also is defined as the management of the law or authority in sustaining fairness. Hence the term 'Justice' refers to a legal name that largely infers on activities and practices that result in fairness. From the definitions of the terms 'Restorative' and 'Justice,' generally, the phrase restorative justice can be described as a practice that restores fairness.

‘Restorative Justice.' According to the Oxford Dictionary, the term restorative justice refers to a criminal justice system that focuses on offenders' rehabilitation through reconciliation with victims and the community at large. John Braithwaite, one of the scholars who has written and conducted so much work on restorative justice, defines the term 'Restorative Justice' as a process where all the affected parties by an act of unfairness are given a platform to deliberate on conflict resolution and matters of accountability (Braithwaite J., 2004).

Relationship First

‘Relationship’. According to the online Oxford dictionary, the term 'relationship' is described as how two or more persons or objects are connected, or the state of being connected. The relationship can be in terms of blood, marriage, or sexual association between two individuals

Compared to the term 'Restorative,' the term relationship as a concept does not include individuals or objects being damaged or needing fixing. A relationship is all about connection, having an association, or creating a connection either emotionally, contractually, or even sexually. The relationship concept is all about establishing connections, interactions, and relations.

'First.' The term 'first' is coming or appearing before everything else.

‘Relationship First.' The concept of a relationship first entails individuals' view as humans who have needs rather than treating individuals as objects (Vaandering D., A faithful compass: rethinking the term restorative justice to find clarity, 2011). Individuals' needs vary as defined earlier, from emotional needs, physical needs, and mental needs.

Literature Review

Restorative justice generally is described as repairing the effects of harm caused by criminal behavior (Armour, 2012). The practice seeks to restore the relationship broken between the offender, the victim, and the community. All the interested parties are brought together in the form of the meeting to deliberate on the best possible methods in which the offender may be accountable by establishing a way in which the offender may compensate the victim (Isenberg, 2019). The compensation may be in the form of cash or of any condition that they may agree on. Restorative justice, in its inception, has been employed on lesser crimes that involve juvenile offenders. Since its inception, restorative justice has been used across various sectors, including the criminal justice system, schools, prisons, and social work.

The practice of restorative justice across multiple sectors employs different models that comprise methods such as restorative conferences, family group conferences, victim-impact panels, victim-offender mediation, and circle sentencing (Braithwaite J., 2004).

The restorative justice concept has received equal support and criticism in the various areas where it has been implemented. First, the restorative justice concept's definition has no single globally accepted description due to its diverse use in multiple sectors (Suvall, 2009). In the criminal justice system, the proponents of its use argue that punitive measures alienate offenders and view them as unworthy community members. Proponents of restorative justice have also argued that offenders who have undergone restorative programs have relatively lower recidivism rates than offenders who undergo the criminal justice system.

Restorative justice in equal measure has received criticism from various sectors. Critics have argued that restorative justice leaves professionals in their conversation and say that justice in the process cannot be successful if experts are not involved in the decision-making process. Some critics also view restorative justice as an informal and incomplete process that fails to address the structural inequalities in society, such as some offenders' ability to be more likely to re-offend than others. The critics argue that proportionality must exist in dealing with criminal cases whereby similar offenses receive the same compensation (Balanced and Restorative Justice Practice: Accountability, n.d.).

In most schools, punitive methods have been widely used to deal with behavioral issues. Disciplinary procedures such as its stand on zero tolerance practices have received criticism by producing members of the society who are viewed as felons. The approach is evident with the use of metal detectors, CCTV cameras, guards at schools, and even a police presence in schools (Lokan, 2016). The practice necessitated a better concept hence the introduction of restorative practices in schools.

In the school setting, restorative justice has been implemented with various degrees of success and failure. Like restorative practices in the criminal justice system, its implementation in the education sector has received criticism and applause. Restorative practices have been lauded for eliminating the power dynamics in schools through inclusion, where the students and teachers come together to formulate the rules and procedures. Restorative justice in schools has also shifted the school's practices from being rule-based institutions to relation-based institutions.