Restorative Justice and Human Nature

Abstract

The criminal justice system in America is failing—America has the highest incarceration rate and the largest prison population in the world, and our system is in need of reform if we wish to end these worrying trends. The following research paper examines the conference model of Restorative Justice, a popular criminal justice reform option. Restorative Justice is a theory of justice that emphasizes the restoration of victims, offenders, and the community when a crime is committed, and the conference model is one of its forms. This paper argues that the conference model relies too heavily on shared human experience for success, that human nature will make the conference model ineffective, and this paper will also suggest possible solutions to this problem.