NCJ Number
166128
Date Published
1995
Length
106 pages
Annotation
Qualitative research was commissioned by the New Zealand Department of Justice to explore public attitudes toward restorative justice, a philosophy that identifies people as victims and views interpersonal dimensions as central to the crime response.
Abstract
Overall research objectives were to assess public attitudes toward the concept of restorative justice and to evaluate components of a criminal justice approach based on restorative justice principles. Sixteen focus groups were conducted in 1994, and each group had a maximum of seven people. Group discussions were used to research aspects of restorative justice that had public support, possible concerns about specific aspects of restorative justice, reactions to possible restorative justice options, and the best way of explaining restorative justice to the public. Research participants had contradictory attitudes toward the New Zealand criminal justice system. On the one hand, they wanted offenders to be punished; on the other hand, they wanted the criminal justice system to focus more on prevention and rehabilitation measures. Further, research participants felt the current criminal justice system favored the rights and needs of offenders within the protective framework of civil rights and liberalism. People were critical of lenient sentencing, concurrent rather than cumulative sentencing, name suppression that enabled offenders to avoid public shame, offenders who got off on technicalities, and views of prison as a place where offenders had an easy life. Some offender groups were seen to be disadvantaged by the criminal justice system, including Maoris, the poorly educated, and those on low incomes. Threads of restorative justice were identified by research participants, such as victim needs and rights, victim involvement in offender sentencing, and keeping victims informed about where the offender was in the criminal justice process. Overall reactions to the concept of restorative justice were positive, a changed emphasis in victim and offender roles was considered to be the key benefit of restorative justice, and participants said victim rights should be central. An appendix describes the research methodology. 1 table and 30 figures