The Role of Restorative Justice in Juvenile Offenses: Lessons from Global Practices

Abstract

The paper will discuss how restorative justice (RJ) can be used in relation to juvenile offending with its potential of offering a more humane and effective, rights-compliant alternative to existing punitive systems. Informed by the comparative experience in New Zealand, Europe and North America and other jurisdictions, the study examines how RJ focuses on accountability, victim involvement and community reintegration. RJ is supported by the international standards, especially the Convention on the Rights of the Child, as a child-centered approach that focuses on rehabilitation more than on punishment. It has been revealed in the paper that the successful implementation is based on key design principles such as voluntariness, proportionality, cultural sensitivity and robust oversight. Simultaneously, it provides a critical evaluation of the issues of net-widening, unequal access and coercion risks, which may decrease the legitimacy in case of the absence of the safeguards. The analysis finishes by concluding that, though not a panacea, when combined with diversionary frameworks and reinforced with robust legal, social and institutional frameworks, RJ has significant potential to change juvenile justice to a model based on accountability and reintegration.