ABSTRACT
Chapter 13, “Retribution and Restorative Justice,” argues that restorative practices can effectively express the community’s resentment, either in conjunction with or as an alternative to hard treatment. The chapter explains the different methods of retributive justice, including victim offender conferencing, sentencing circles, and reintegrative shaming. Restorative practices give offenders an opportunity to accept blame for their crimes (passive responsibility), and they also impose obligations on offenders to makes things right with victims and the community (active responsibility). Although traditional punishments must be retained to incapacitate at least some criminals, and harsh treatment may be required to express society’s broader reactive attitudes, restorative practices accomplish many of the aims of retribution: communities express their disapproval; participants collectively affirm the wrongness of the crimes, acknowledging the truth of the claims behind the resentment (that victims have been wronged); offenders are held accountable for the crime; and they commit themselves to reestablishing relations of right, thus reaffirming the law.
