Restorative Justice Practices and How They Aid Justice

By Dr. Matthew Loux and Bryce Loux  |  11/03/2025

Traditionally, criminal justice systems have emphasized punishment, deterrence, and retribution. However, enduring challenges for law enforcement officers have been:

• The lack of recidivism reduction
• Reparative justice
• The re-establishment of community trust

As a result, restorative justice practices have emerged. Restorative justice focuses principally on alleviating the harm of the crime or the conflict, instead of punishing an offender.

Restorative practices consider who was harmed, what their needs are, and how those needs can be met. This approach, being primarily victim-focused and community-centered, has gained popularity globally as an effective complement to traditional systems of justice. It is often used in conjunction with existing legal systems. 

The Core Principles of Restorative Justice

Restorative justice practices involve several core principles, such as: 

• Repairing harm – The focus is on repairing the harm done to the victims, to relationships, and to communities. 
• Inclusion and participation – Victims, the accused, and community members all participate in the decision-making process. 
• Active accountability – Offenders are required to accept responsibility for their behavior and take steps to repair the harm they caused.
• Community empowerment – Restorative justice emphasizes strengthening community ties, improving social support, and creating collective responsibility for justice. 
• Dialogue and understanding – Communication fosters empathy, reconciliation, and the rebuilding of trust to strengthen community relationships. 
• Future-oriented focus – Restorative justice seeks to prevent harm in the future by addressing the underlying issues that cause conflict and crime.

Restorative Justice Practices in Action

Restorative justice is unique to each situation and its intended outcomes. Here are some samples of restorative justice in action: 

• Victim-offender mediation (VOM) – A victim, an offender, and a trained mediator take part in a structured dialogue in a safe space. Offenders listen, often apologize, and frequently offer restitution to improve a victim's well-being and healing. This type of restorative practice can boost victim satisfaction and offender accountability. 
• Restorative circles – The use of restorative circles, first used by Indigenous cultures, includes offenders and victims, as well as their family and community members. Facilitators direct conversations to repairing harm from offenders' conduct and addressing victims’ needs. Restorative circles are essential in schools and communities to tackle bullying, address conflict, and create greater respect. 
• Family group conferences – Family group conferences involve a family in the decision-making process and restorative practices.
• Community reparative boards – Community members interact with offenders to identify reparative actions, including community service, apologies, and restitution. These boards foster accountability and trust in the community, and they also strengthen relationships.
• School-based restorative practices – Schools can implement restorative justice to manage discipline, curtail suspensions, and create inclusive atmospheres based on personal values. Peer mediation, restorative circles, and structured dialogues enable students to respond to and negotiate the terms of their conflicts.

Advantages of Restorative Justice

Numerous studies document the restorative justice benefits for various stakeholders, including the victims, the offenders, and the community.

For victims, there is greater satisfaction with the justice process and the opportunity to directly communicate feelings and needs. Victims also experience positive feelings of closure and healing.

For offenders, there is more motivation to embrace personal accountability and empathy. In addition, there is a reduced likelihood of reoffending since the root causes of a crime are addressed and greater opportunities for community reintegration.

Similarly, communities can create positive partnerships and social cohesion. There is an elevated trust in justice systems through inclusivity and a sense of proactive problem-solving and prevention.

Justice systems reduced case backlogs and have a decreased reliance on incarceration. Restorative justice also offers a cost-effective alternative to the courts and helps to ensure that justice practices are aligned with citizens' human rights and equity.

Challenges to Restorative Justice 

Restorative justice is faced with numerous challenges, such as: 

• Implementation barriers – Restorative justice requires training, resources, and community buy-in. Some jurisdictions lack the capacity and willingness to fully adopt restorative justice. 
• Power imbalances – Concerns about fairness arise when victims are put in a position where they must forgive or reconcile. 
• Cultural sensitivity – Restorative justice must account for diverse cultures so it is not misapplied.
• Appropriateness for serious crimes – Restorative justice is sometimes critiqued as inappropriate for violent crimes or for sexual crimes. However, some research suggests victims of serious crimes may still benefit from restorative solutions. 
• Consistency and quality control – Concerns regarding effectiveness and legitimacy arise from the lack of standardized procedures.

Future Advancements and Restorative Practices 

Future advancements in restorative practices rely on raising awareness, securing adequate funding, and system integration. More developments may include: 

• Integrating restorative justice into all branches of the justice system – Integrating restorative justice into courts, probation, and correctional institutions 
• Improving the adoption of restorative justice in schools – Encouraging educational institutions to adopt restorative justice in place of traditional punitive discipline 
• Virtual restorative justice – Employing technology to create remote mediation and restorative circles

The successful implementation of restorative justice systems depends on an appropriate level of cultural sensitivity, available resources, and arrangements to prevent exploitation of the system.

Restorative justice provides a more humane and effective approach to justice while the world still contends with inequity, unjust systems, and overcrowded prisons. If thoughtfully embraced and incorporated, restorative justice systems could transform justice systems around the world. They could also help to protect citizens from harm and build more resilient human beings and societies.

The Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice at AMU

For students interested in gaining a better knowledge of criminology, corrections and incarceration, and other related topics, American Military University (AMU) provides an online Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice. Courses in this degree program are taught by expert instructors and include criminal investigation, ethics in criminal justice, and criminal profiling.

For more details, visit AMU’s criminal justice degree program page.  

Note: This degree program is not designed to meet the educational requirements for professional licensure or certification in any country, state, province or other jurisdiction. This program has not been approved by any state professional licensing body and does not lead to any state-issued professional licensure.