ABSTRACT

How ought a Christian to view the question of judicial punishment in the setting of countries facing past human rights violations on a large scale while trying to establish a stable liberal democracy, a peace settlement or a combination of both? The approach argued for in this chapter, namely restorative punishment, entails a Christian approach to judicial punishment in general, but is also suited to the predicament of entire societies undergoing political transitions. The chapter begins with a summary of the past generation’s explosion of judicial punishment. It then offers a critique of the two leading Western views of punishment in the past two-and-a-half centuries: utilitarianism and retributivism. Next, it presents restorative punishment as an alternative. Then, it explains how restorative justice contributes to the restoration of political orders that are facing past injustices. It concludes with some short reflections on institutions for restorative punishment.