Restorative Justice; A Panacea To Crime Prevention In Nigeria By James Hope Esq

Abstract

The criminal justice system consists of three main parts: Legislative (that create laws); adjudication (the courts); and corrections (jails, prisons, probation and parole). It is well known that the ultimate goal of the criminal justice system is to do justice and provide fairness to both the offender and the victim. The society is no longer concerned about the prosecution and imprisonment of the offender; rather it is providing alternative means of holding offenders accountable and responsible to the society, by making sure that the future is safe, harm is repaired and the offender is reintegrated back to the society. The considered embrace and implementation of restorative justice will not be a total deviance with the law and issues of justice, but a viable means to achieving justice, reducing the problems of prison congestion, funding, abuse of court process, long duration of litigation, and non-compliance with court orders and judgments.

Key Words: Restorative Justice, criminal justice, crime prevention, victim and offender

The Nigerian legal system is patterned after the English common law and therefore draws its inspiration from the retributive school of thought which provides that offenders should be punished for any crime done to another or the society. This model is an ancient philosophy of the Hammurabi Code and also a biblical philosophy of the mosaic era which dates back to over 3,500 years ago. For example, the Code of Hammurabi provided that ‘if a man destroys the eye of another man, they shall destroy his eye. If he breaks a man’s bone, they shall break his bone. If a man knocks out a tooth of a man of his own rank, they shall knock out his tooth. So also the Mosaic law which stipulates an eye for an eye. Africans has its old methods of restorative justice, even before the coming of the colonialist. Issues regarding crimes and deviances were resolved among the parties involved amicably by the elders and within the community using tradition mechanism. Nations with the highest imprisonment rates such as the United States, Russia, South Africa, China, and others have utilized the advantages restorative justice offers to stem the tide of retributive justice and imprisonment.[1] Nigeria today, the concept of restorative justice has not been totally institutionalized to meet with other states. The more the criminal justice system cared about finding ways to deal with offenders through harsh legislation and tough policing, the less time and energy is devoted to finding the root causes of crime, and crime control issues related to victims needs, interests, aspirations and expectations, and offenders behaviour modification, reformation and reintegration. This informs the introduction of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act[2] which clearly explain the motive for the enactment of the law viz

The purpose of this Act is to ensure that the system of administration of criminal justice in Nigeria promotes efficient management of criminal justice institution, speedy dispensation of justice, protection of the society from crime and protection of the rights and interest of the suspect, the defendant and the victim.

There has been established series of restorative justice theories today by scholars which includes: The social control theory, the theory of reintegration shaming, the moral psychological theory and the emotional and moral psychological theory propounded by scholars like Hirsch A, Retzinger, John Braithwaite, Bandura and just to mention a few. All these theories postulate restorative justice in terms of providing long-term solutions to criminal behaviour, the success or failure of a criminal justice intervention. As the theories are aimed at

• (Re-) engaging the offender at a moral-psychological level with the consequences of their behavior.
• Aiding the moral and social development of the offender, so that they learn and become wiser for the experience.
• Aiding emotional and moral psychological healing from the trauma of the criminal incident through interaction between the parties and symbolic reparation.
• Tempering unequivocal disapproval of the wrongful behavior (shaming) with expressions of respect and acceptance of the individual into their community (reintegration).

Where restorative justice is achieved in the society, the victim will get to recognizes that there is a distinctive need which needs one to express feelings and ask questions of why the offender committed the offence. Such feelings, concerns and suffering acknowledged and how the harm done by the incident might be repaired. The offender gets to know that crime hurts victims, communities and offenders and creates an obligation to make amends. Through restorative justice, the offender takes responsibility for action done, participate in repairing the harm and ask for assistance from the society. And to the community, restorative justice will enlightened the community to know that crime affects everyone, and there is need to work together to repair the harm and create safer communities.

The relevance of the justice system in improving the lives of the down-trodden and the vulnerable groups in ensuring that they receive justice within the system cannot be over-emphasized. Any state who fails to provide its citizens with the protection they need from crime and access to justice hinders sustainable development and economic growth[3].

• Definition of Key Concept.
  • Restorative justice:

Defining restorative justice goes beyond the understanding of crime and conflict in the society, it sees how the society thinks about crime and at the same time responds to the crime, thereby restoring balance to the society. Restorative Justice (also sometimes called “reparative justice”) is an approach to justice that focuses on the needs of victims, offenders, as well as the involved community, instead of satisfying abstract legal principles or punishing the offender. Victims take an active role in the process, while offenders are encouraged to take responsibility for their actions, “to repair the harm they’ve done—by apologizing, returning stolen money, or community service”[4]

Marshall T. F defined restorative justice [5] “as a problem-solving approach to crime which involves the parties themselves and the community generally, in an active relationship with statutory agencies. While for Mediation UK [6] defines restorative justice as a process whereby victims, offenders, and communities are collectively involved in resolving how to deal with the aftermath of an offence and its implications for the future.

• Crime: Crime is a three-part definition: First, as an act punishable by law‟, second, as an act forbidden by statute‟, and third, as an act injurious to the public welfare”. crime is generally defined as a wrong against the state[7]
• Criminal Justice System: The criminal justice system envisages atleast 3 components, viz: the law enforcement, judicial process and reformatory institutions. It is defined as the collective institutions through which the accused offender passes until the accusations have been disposed of or the assessed punishment concluded.[8] It is also seen as loose federation of agencies separate wells and each a professional unto itself.[9]

• Characteristics Of Restorative Justice

Restorative justice is mostly different from contemporary criminal justice in several ways. Firstly, it views criminal acts more comprehensively: rather than defining crime as simply lawbreaking, it recognizes the tendencies that offenders harm victims, communities and even themselves. Secondly, it involves more parties in responding to crime: rather than giving key roles only to government and the offender; it includes victims and communities as well. Finally, it measures success differently: rather than measuring how much punishment is inflicted, it measures how much harm is repaired or prevented in the community.[10]

From the premised above, the following can be deduced as distinguish features of restorative justice

• Restorative justice is a different way of thinking about crime and how individual and the community response to crime;
• The concept of restorative justice focuses on the harm caused by crime: repairing the harm done to victims and reducing future harm by preventing crime;
• It requires offenders to take responsibility for their actions and for the harm they have caused;
• It seeks redress for victims, recompense by offenders and reintegration of both within the community;
• Restorative justice is achieved through a co-operative effort by communities and the government.

• Impact of Restorative Justice in Crime Prevention

1. One of the impacts of restorative justice is that it creates friendly atmosphere and environment amongst members of the society. This occurs during the restorative process; relationships are restored, improved and developed between the offender, the victim and the community.
2. It is time effective and omits unnecessary delays that may have arisen from adjudication of the matter using the direct instrumentality of the criminal justice system.
3. Its saves cost. Parties are not oblique to involve professionals in the process, the process involve just the victim, the offender and the community.
4. It is less formal and requires no expertise in the settlement of issues. The restorative process involves the victim, offender and the individual and members of the community.
5. It is a satisfactory process as most victims who take part in the process often come out satisfied and happy with the outcome. This is because; it helps in reducing offending, and reassure the public that the fear of crime and other anti social behaviour can be reduced.

• Conclusion and Recommendation

The importance of restorative justice cannot be overemphasis in our contemporary society. Although restorative justice cannot work in certain cases or in all criminal cases, especially where the offender denies having anything to do with the crime or where the victim is unwilling to participate in the reconciliation process, restorative justice can play an essential role in reducing reoffending, as well as helping victims, and boosting public confidence in the justice system by engaging members of the local community, reinforcing parental responsibility, giving victims a voice as well as reducing the fear of crime and anti-social behavior, and holding young people to account so that they can take part in repairing the harm they have caused, as well as learn from the experience.[11]

Every society deserves to have its needs met within the justice system, and therefore deserves the opportunity to take part in repairing the harm caused by an offender, prevent crime, and create safer communities. The end result of a restorative justice is to come up with an agreement outlining how the offender will make reparation. Reparation can be monetary payment, service to the victim, community service or any other measure that may be agreed upon by parties during the process. However, this does not preclude the performance of the justice system, but rather strengthens it.

Having understood the impact of restorative justice in reducing the rate of crime and thereby bringing about peaceful co existence in the society, the following have been recommended.

• There should be institutional frame work that will aid in enhancing restorative programs in the criminal justice system.
• Judges should advocate for restorative justice mechanism before adjudicating matters before them.
• NGO and community state holders should by way of sensitization and community dialogue advocate and educate its citizenry on the need for restorative programs before punishing an offender.
• Government should provide the necessary infrastructures and social services to make life easy for the society.
• The system must be embraced by the community, local, state, and the federal government as a way of reducing high incarceration rate, especially for those awaiting trials. And the community should not be Interested in dealing with the offender only.

James Hope Esq, Legal Practisoner,

A.S.Bandawa & Co, Abuja.

jamhope@yahoo.com 00

[1] Abrams, L. S., Umbreit, M. & Gordon, A. “Young Offenders Speak About Meeting Their Victims: Implications for Future Programs. 2 (2006).” Contemporary Justice Review,: 243-256.

[2] Section 1 (1) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015

[3] Ayorinde, B , Nigeria: A Reformatory Approach to the Criminal Justice System in Nigeria (2014) www.mondaq.com/x/293894/Public+Order/A+Reformatory+Approach+To+The; 13July 2017

[4] Marty Price, J.D. “Personalizing Crime,” Dispute Resolution Magazine, Fall 2001

[5] Marshall, T, F. Restorative Justice: An Overview, London 1999): Home Office Research and Statistics Directorate.

[6] Mediation UK, Restorative justice: A brief introduction (2002)‟, www.mediationuk.org.uk 12/7/2017.

[7] Latimer, S., and Kleinknecht, S.The Effect of Restorative Justice programming: A review of the empirical? Canada: Department of Justice(2000).

[8] Garner B.A, Blacks Law Dictionary,  7 Edition, London; Sweet and Maxwell ltd (2001)

[9] New  D.J, Introduction to Criminal Justice, New York, Leppircott (1978) p. 3

[10] John O .O;  Restorative Justice As An Alternative Dispute Resolution Model: Opinions Of Victims Of Crime, And Criminal Justice Professionals In Nigeria’(2009) Unpublished, Thesis De montfort university, Leicester

[11] Bazemore, G., & Schiff, M. Restorative community justice: Repairing harm and transforming communities. Cincinnati, OH: Anderson Publishing (2001)