What is the origin of restorative justice? Isn it a return to ancient models of justice?
A. Indeed yes. Unwritten codes as well as the earliest written codes focused on repairing the harm. Before the Norman conquest of England, local villages delivered justice by making the offender repay the victim. Then, when William the Conqueror became ruler, crimes became a disruption of the “King’s peace,” and offenders were fined in the King’s Court. By requiring citizens to come to his courts for justice, the king gained power; by collecting fines that in the past would have gone to the victims, he gained wealth. We still have that emphasis with crimes “against the state.” Today, other cultures include restoration to the victim and community as core elements of justice, including Muslim, American Indian, and many Pacific Rim societies.[3] Q. Can you describe some restorative practices and talk about how widely they are practiced? A. Probably the most familiar examples are restitution and community service — although both are often applied solely as punitive sanctions rather than l
