Restorative Justice (RJ) and Gender:How Women Police are best placed to apply Restorative Justice Values in Policing Practices?

Kamal Uddin Tipu PSPPolice Adviser

UN Office to the African Union (UNOAU)

Sequence• What is Restorative Justice?• Dimensions of Crime• Needs and Roles of Victims Offenders Community• What are the RJ principles and values?• Traditional Justice Vs Restorative Justice• Personal journey to ‘Circles’• ‘Circle’ values• ‘Feminine’ Values• How Women Police Officers are best placed to

employ the Values in Policing Practices?

What is Restorative Justice?

Addresses needs of victims offenders and Community Another way of looking at Crime Alternative way of thinking about wrong doing

Direction for the future Resolution and Transformation of Conflict Participatory Democracy beyond Majority: ‘Consensus’ Principles Philosophy Guiding Questions

PUBLIC (SOCIETAL)

PRIVATE (LOCAL AND PERSONAL)

Dimensions of Crime

Needs and Roles of Victims, Offenders & Community

-Crime is a violation of people and interpersonal relationship -Violations create obligations -The central obligation to put right the wrong.

Restorative Justice Principles

1. Focus on the harms and consequent needs of the victims, as well as the communities’ and the offenders:

2. Address the obligations that result from those harms (the obligations of the offenders, as well as the communities and society’s)

3. Use inclusive , collaborative processes 4. Involve those with a legitimate stake in the situation,

including victims, offenders, community members, and society.

5. Seek to put right the wrongs.

What are the RJ Values?

-Relationship-Responsibility-Respect

Criminal Justice Restorative Justice

What laws have been broken?

Who has been hurt?

Who did it? What are their needs?

What do they deserve? Whose obligations are these?

Questions

Two Different Views

Criminal Justice• Crime is a violation of the

law and the state• Violations create guilt• Justice requires state to

determine blame (guilt) and impose pain (punishment)

• Central focus: offenders getting what they deserve

Restorative Justice• Crime is a violation of

people and relationships• Violations create obligations• Justice involves victims,

offenders and community members in an effort to put things right

• Central focus: victim needs and offender responsibility for repairing harm

Old and New Justice ParadigmTraditional Justice

• Defined narrowly, abstractly, legally (what rule was broken)

• Only legal variables (rules) are relevant

• The state (organizational authority) is the victim

Restorative Justice

• Defined relationally• Overall context is relevant• People are victims

Problem

Old and New Justice Paradigm

Traditional Justice

• State (organizational authority) is active and offender is passive

Restorative Justice

• Victim and offender is primary with state (organizational authority) and community

Actors

Old and New Justice Paradigm

Traditional Justice

• Adversarial, authoritarian, technical, impersonal

• Focus is guilt and blame• Neutralizing strategies

encouraged

Restorative Justice

• Participatory, maximizing information, dialogue and mutual agreement

• Focus is on needs and obligations

Process

Old and New Justice Paradigm

Traditional Justice

• Pain and suffering• Harm by offender balanced

by harm to offender• Oriented to past

Restorative Justice

• Making things right by identifying needs and obligations; healing, problem solving

• Harm by offender balanced by making it right

• Oriented to future

Outcomes

-Restorative Justice focus on harms

-Harms result in needs and obligations

-Restorative Justice promotes engagement

Definition of RJ

Restorative Justice is a process to involve, to the extent possible, those who have a stake in a specific offense and to collectively identify and address harms, needs and obligations in order to heal and put things as right as possible

Howard Zehr

Definition of RJ

Restorative Justice is a process whereby the parties with a stake in the offense come together to resolve collectively how to deal with the aftermath of the offense and its implications for the future.

Tony Marshall

Restorative Practices• Victim Offender Reconciliation Program• Victim Offender Conference/ Mediation• Family Group Conference• Jirga • Panchayat• Restorative Mediation• Criminal Justice Programs: Alternative or

diversionary programs; healing or therapeutic programs; & transitional programs

• Circles

Circles

Circles Values

• Respect• Honesty• Humility• Sharing• Inclusivity

• Empathy• Courage• Forgiveness• Love• Trust

What are Feminine Values?

Feminine values

• Compassion• Coordination• Connection

Connectedness Relationship

How Women Police Officers are best placed to employ the Values in

Policing Practices?

• Most women possess the feminine values• Policing practices involve engaging with people

and community• Investigation• Community Policing• Public relations

Thank you! ???

tipu@un.org