Evaluate the effectiveness of each approach in lowering crime rates.

American justice system needs reform: Punitive justice too harsh, restorative justice allows for reconciliation, reform Publication info: University Wire ; Carlsbad [Carlsbad]27 Feb 2020. ProQuest document link FULL TEXT Publication: The Hillsdale Collegian, , Hillsdale College , Hillsdale, MI The American justice system should switch to a restorative system, rather than a punitive one. I Pixabay Schools around the country are taking a new approach to dis­ci­pline, and it seems to be working. For decades, teachers and admin­is­trators responded to bad behavior with punitive justice. Fighting, bul­lying, and other mis­conduct would result in deten­tions, sus­pen­sions, or even expul­sions.. Now, schools are using a new method called “restorative justice.” Instead of earning pun­ish­ments, stu­dents must solve the problems caused by their actions. This type of justice strikes at the heart of social problems in schools rather than dealing with them on a surface-level. These new methods have proven effective in improving student behavior. Our criminal justice system can learn a lot from these inno­va­tions. Up to now, it has almost exclu­sively used punitive justice. Effec­tively, our legal framework works to put people in prison rather than reduce crime and reha­bil­itate cit­izens. Instead, it should incor­porate restorative models to better address crime. Last year, Pres­ident Donald Trump signed a bipar­tisan bill, the First Step Act, which eased the stan­dards by which prisons evaluate con­victed crim­inals. As a result, more than 3,000 Amer­icans were released and offi­cials redi­rected $75 million to pro­grams focused on reha­bil­i­tating inmates. This is a small but important step in the right direction. Punitive justice works to reduce crime by cal­cu­lating costs and ben­efits. Its pro­po­nents, who shape the way Amer­icans view justice, claim the best way to reduce criminal activity is through long sen­tences and large fines. It ignores the needs of victims and promises a one-size-fits-all solution. Its side effects include mil­lions of cit­izens facing harsher-than-nec­essary sen­tences. Restorative justice, the alter­native, is a multi-faceted approach to the problem of crime. Instead of the dog­matic pursuit of punitive action, it empha­sizes pre­ven­tative, anti-poverty mea­sures, com­munity edu­cation, victim com­pen­sation, and reha­bil­i­tation of offenders. Crime is often a response to social sit­u­a­tions outside of an individual’s control. In “Pol­itics,” Aris­totle observed, “Poverty is the parent of rev­o­lution and crime.” Restorative advo­cates think he was right. The restorative approach under­stands crime in a social context that punitive systems do not. Annually, states and the federal gov­ernment spend $81 billion on the prison and jail systems alone. A restorative approach would spend most of this money on pre­ven­tative mea­sures such as edu­cation, reha­bil­i­tation pro­grams for newly-con­victed indi­viduals, and direct repa­ra­tions for victims. Punitive justice hurts victims as much if not more than crim­inals. At least two-thirds of victims report they’re unsat­isfied with prison sen­tences; a restorative framework addresses their needs through imme­diate service or financial help. Imagine someone breaks into your store­front, destroying property and stealing expensive items. Under the current system, those items will be returned to you if they can be found. Though the property wreckage may be par­tially PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 1 of 3 addressed by insurance, the emo­tional trauma doesn’t just go away. A restorative response would place the respon­si­bility on the criminal to rectify this. A convict would pay some sort of criminal alimony to com­pensate the victim while enrolling in aggressive pro­bation and reha­bil­i­tation. Social workers would check in with con­victs mul­tiple times per week, working with them to rebuild a pro­ductive life. An offender can also par­tic­ipate in the direct repair of the victim’s property. The per­pe­trator could work with a con­struction team, super­vised by a security guard, to fix damaged property. This is the most common-sense answer, and one often applied to children. Psy­cho­logical studies have found that school children involved in direct repar­ative activ­ities, like cleaning up their own messes, under­stand the costs of their actions better than children who receive a pun­ishment unre­lated to their action, like timeouts or detention. These children are also less likely to commit further offenses. The prison system’s greatest flaw, however, is its social­izing effect on crim­inals. By restricting first-time offenders of minor, non-violent crimes to a social life com­prised almost entirely of other offenders, the current system breeds recidivism and criminal net­works. Instead, a restorative process empha­sizes recon­nection with the local public. Com­munity service projects and direct reha­bil­i­tation sur­round potential recidi­vists with friends and family who are directly inter­ested in their reha­bil­i­tation. Social workers help dignify offenders by finding them a full-time job through mutual coop­er­ation. Imple­menting a restorative system would have a lasting impact on America’s diverse com­mu­nities. The cat­e­gorical prison-solves-every­thing mindset dis­re­gards other solu­tions that can offer real justice for all. Cal Abbo is a junior studying psy­chology and a columnist on Demo­c­ratic pol­itics. He is the fea­tures editor for The Col­legian. DETAILS Subject: Rehabilitation of criminals; Crime; Prisons; Schools; Social workers; Criminals; Restorative justice People: Trump, Donald J Company / organization: Name: Hillsdale College; NAICS: 611310 Publication title: University Wire; Carlsbad Publication year: 2020 Publication date: Feb 27, 2020 Section: homepage – opinion Publisher: Uloop, Inc. Place of publication: Carlsbad Country of publication: United States, Carlsbad Publication subject: General Interest Periodicals–United States PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 2 of 3 Source type: Wire Feeds Language of publication: English Document type: News ProQuest document ID: 2365214111 Document URL: https://www.proquest.com/wire-feeds/american-justice-system-needs-reformpunitive-too/docview/2365214111/se-2?accountid=35812 Copyright: © 2020 UWIRE, a division of Uloop Last updated: 2020-02-27 Database: ProQuest Central Database copyright  2021 ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. 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