Talk:Restorative justice

Concerns

While this subject appears to be initiated by a "Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment", there are serious shortcomings in the entire presentation. The following is from a cursory read that returns the feeling that either a rewrite is needed, or possibly some merging is required.

Issues

• 1)- While attempting to cover the subject broadly, a worldview bias has been introduced. The "Application" section includes the "system-wide offenses" subsection. This tosses in a gross, incomplete coverage, possibly due to a lack of expansion, that includes the wording Template:Tq. First, a reader looking even a little deeper into understanding has to stop and click links, or is left with an incomplete picture. Second, the content has only one source and centers on that one source's South African view. The bolded wording above cannot be accomplished in the Wikipedia world when there is a lack of explanatory content.
• 2)- The article does not cover the relationship between the related subjects and is woeful in attempts to connect the dots between them. Applying, or attempting to apply, an "application" of a theory does not mean that the attempted "application (practice) changes the theory.

Broadly, the subject falls under ethics. It is a philosophy that can include a set of practices. The subject involves moral aspects, entwined within the legal infraction perspective, so law and justice are involved at the crossroads. Ultimately, politics takes the lead.

Louisiana has the Louisiana State Penitentiary (Angola), the largest in the US. In 2017, a series of reforms, the Louisiana Justice Reinvestment Initiative (JRI) reform was initiated. From COVID-19, challenges include those from communities, to legislative rollbacks, and gains were mitigated. The judge becomes hamstrung when state sentencing guidelines signed by the current governor mandate that 85% of the sentence must be served. The governor is reversing the "justice reinvestment model."

As with this article, the lead exemplifies a disconnect. The opening sentence includes, "...a community-based approach to justice that aims to repair the harm done to victims, offenders and communities." The final lead sentence states, "However, restorative justice practices are firmly rooted in the needs of the victim, and may simply support holding the perpetrator accountable and the sharing of victim impact statements without dialogue." There is a reverse paradigm shift when a perpetrator is left out of the "healing process", by being excluded from any "sharing", when victim impact statements occur without dialogue. The statement is to be honest and "from the heart". When there is no "dialog" it becomes a piece of paper, that a judge includes, possibly among a pre-sentence report and any sentencing guidelines, in deciding any punishment. In Louisiana, this can be included in the pre-release parole decision. When it is impersonal (no face-to-face dia­logue with the victim[s]), it becomes a victim's statement of harm. How the crime affected the individual, family, and community, usually with no remorse for the perpetrator. It is a voluntary legal right of a victim to be present or have the statement presented during release, plea, sentencing, or parole. At the time of the impact statement writing, average citizens likely don't want the inclusion of "harm" involving the "offender, in a sentence when they have been harmed. I am pretty sure that might be human nature.

• 3) The disconnect may include that there are no "main" article introductions. Both Restorative justice and Retributive justice are criminal justice legal concepts or theories of justice. Very few people likely have a "non-retributive responses to harm" attitude.
• 4)- In the US, 35 states have implemented Restorative justice in the youth justice systems. 45 states have enacted certain laws.. Complications arise in states where the criminal recidivism rate is high or becomes higher. Louisiana usually sits between 35 and 44%. A nationwide report states Louisiana was 24.9 in 2024, down from 32% in 2018, indicating improvements but placing it in the bottom 24 states.

Maybe subheadings for the different treatments in different locations would be a help? -- Otr500 (talk) 17:13, 14 June 2025 (UTC)

External links

Some things just grow during incremental edits and sometimes get out of hand. The "External links" section, one of the optional appendices, was expanded to 12 entries. Three seems to be an acceptable number, and of course, everyone has their favorite to try to add for a fourth. Consensus needs to determine this. A tag indicates concerns.

However, none is needed for article promotion.

Some links may be included in WP:ELNO, or What Wikipedia is not (policy) such as WP:NOTREPOSITORY or WP:NOTGUIDE.

• WP:ELDEAD may apply.
• In some cases ELCITE applies: Template:Tq. Others, listed below:
• ELpoints #3) states: Template:Tq
• LINKFARM states: Template:Tq
• ELMIN: Template:Tq.

The External links guideline This page in a nutshell: Template:Tq

Second paragraph, Template:Tq

• • Please also note:
• WP:ELBURDEN: Template:Tq. Please do not add back more links without consensus. Simple solution to facilitate career maintenance tag. Move links here for discussion.

Moved links:

• Restorative justice, homepage
• UK Restorative justice, homepage
• Instituto Latino Americano de Prácticas Restaurativas
• COREPOL project
• Why Me? UK charity promoting restorative justice
• Thom Brooks, "On Punitive Restoration"
• "Restorative Justice FAQ, Victim Offender Mediation Association.
• Peacemaking Circle process (Minnesota)
• The Effectiveness of Restorative Justice Practices: A Meta-Analysis, Research and Statistics Division Methodological Series, Department of Justice Canada, 2001. -- Otr500 (talk) 17:17, 14 June 2025 (UTC)