In 1,250-1,500 words, do the following: Describe some of the theoretical best practices for restorative justice, crime prevention, and corrections.Explain how the theoretical best practices are, and a
In 1,250-1,500 words, do the following:
Describe some of the theoretical best practices for restorative justice, crime prevention, and corrections.
Explain how the theoretical best practices are, and are not, manifested in current correctional settings in the United States.
Explain different ways to improve rehabilitative services to make them more readily utilized within the criminal justice system, and better aligned to the theoretical best practices you identified.
Provide five to seven peer reviewed resources to support your explanations.
In 500-750 words, evaluate the merits of restorative justice programs by doing the following:
Locate a restorative justice program that is currently in use by a justice agency.
Use research sources to explain how effective this type of program is. Explain if you feel the benefits outweigh the costs, and why. Use the GCU Library to locate three to five relevant, scholarly sources in support of your content, no older than 5 years.
Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the GCU Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required. Use restorative justice program..
Serious crimes perpetuated often produces great impact on the victims and their families. According to Huang (2018) the victims of violent crimes together with their families often suffer physically and psychologically. Suffering is not restricted to the victims of violent crimes, but can have adverse effects on other victims such as rape victims, and victims of burglary. However, all the victims regardless of the nature of victimization require some assistance to cope with life after crime. The federal government has come up with numerous programs that target towards justice restoration among the victims of violence. One such program that is currently being employed is the Victim Assistance and Involvement Program.
The role that a victim plays in the criminal justice process is continually a subject of discussion. Underwood and Edmunds (2003) points out that the roles of the victims have been reduced to that of an obscure bystander. The Victim Assistance and Involvement Program is one of the federal restorative programs that were initiated to create a balance and offer the victims some form of voices. According to Centre for Justice and Reconciliation (2020) the Victim Assistance and Involvement Program offers assistance to the victims when they are undergoing recovery from crime and when they were undergoing the justice process. The program has two major roles; acts as an advocate for the rights of the victim during the justice process and provide the necessary community support to avert personal crises that results from victimization.
The major purposes of the Victim Assistance and Involvement Program are to provide legal representation to the victim so that they do not fall victims of re-victimization to the system neglect (Centre for Justice & Reconciliation, 2020). The author asserts that the program helps in meeting the physical and psychological needs of the victim after they have been subjected to criminal acts. In addition, the Victim Assistance and Involvement Program provide the victims with the opportunity to reintegrate effectively into the society as restored victims.
The benefits of the Victims Assistance and Involvement Program outweigh its costs. The federal government funds the victims assistance programs, taking substantial funds with the sole purpose of helping the victims settle within the society. Research indicates that Victim Assistance Programs are associated with increased psychological stability. According to Eckhardt et al. (2015), many victims of crimes suffer psychological challenges that can include depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PSTD). However, the use of victim’s assistance programs has been shown to be effective in elevating such complex psychological conditions on victims. Given that crimes will never be eradicated, the victim assistance programs are not only important but offer a cheaper alternative than treatment of psychological effects of crime. The treatment of serious psychological problems such as PSTD can be very expensive to the family of the victims. The use of victim assistance programs offers a cheaper alternative to preventing such occurrences. For restorative justice program..
The Victims Assistance and Involvement Program acts as a preventive program. Through the program, the victims are helped to settle into the community and continue with their life in a normal way. Without the program, some of the victims could easily sink into depression and PSTD, thus affecting the family and those who dependent upon them. It is imperative that an assistance program be provided to ensure they assume normal life. The program also acts as a way of preventing a possible economic challenge that could result from psychological conditions such as depression. Therefore, the benefits of Victims Assistance and Involvement Program outweigh the costs of running the program.
References
Centre for Justice & Reconciliation. (2020). Victim Assistance. Restorative Justice. Retrieved 14 June 2020, from http://restorativejustice.org/we-do/system-reform-projects/.
Eckhardt, C., Murphy, C., Whitaker, D., Sprunger, J., Dykstra, R., & Woodard, K. (2015). The Effectiveness of Intervention Programs for Perpetrators and Victims of Intimate Partner Violence. Partner Abuse, 4(2), 196-231.
Huang, L. (2018). Unmet Needs and Service Satisfaction of Victim Support for the Direct and Indirect Victims of Serious Violence: Results from a Cross-Sectional Survey in Taiwan. Plos ONE, 13(2), e0192905.
Underwood, T., & Edmunds, C. (Eds.). (2003). Victim assistance: Exploring individual practice, organizational policy, and societal responses. Springer Publishing Company.
