Constitutional or Legal Issue that could Arise with the Application of Restorative Justice.
Restorative justice began towards the end of the ’70s.
It offers a room for discussion between the victim and the offender to assess the impact of the crime as it gives chance for compensation to the involved parties.
Restorative justice ensures both the victim and offender benefits by supporting the need to embrace ethical values and principles.
Restorative justice aims at mediating the offender and victims involved in a murder case (Johnstone, 2013).
Many ethical, constitutional, and legal issues may arise due to the adoption of restorative justice.
Brutal killing is one of the significant legal issue that may raise a concern when restorative justice programs are used to solve the matter.
Brutal killing is a serious crime that should be severely punished.
Killing another individual brutally is considered a crime by law because the perpetrator failed to consider their moral obligation to respect the right of life of the victim.
However, restorative justice programs may try to mediate between the affected victims and the murderer.
According to Johnstone, 2013, handling brutal murder issues through a restorative approach gives the affected victims a chance to situations that triggered the case in the process assessing the relevance of the perpetrator’s conviction.
According to ethical and legal considerations, the murderer should be given punishments and penalties in the same magnitude the victims are affected.
Legal and ethical considerations affect the restorative justice approach significantly.
According to the law and Kantian ethical theory, a person has a moral responsibility to act in an ethical manner.
Failing to perform a moral obligation should hold people accountable for their acts (Braswell et al., 2014).
Brutal murder is a form of ignorance and disobedience of the laws and the rules of the land, thus, should be severely punished.
Utilitarian ethical theory pinpoints that an act should be considered ethical if it results in a high benefit to many individuals.
The offender’s action in the brutal murder leads to harm in many family members, thus, signifying the wickedness of the committed offense.
With respect to utilitarian theory, brutal murder is a criminal and act and is punishable by the law.
But the restorative approach mediates between the two parties and may allow the offender to go Restorative action allows the compensation of the harms that are as a result of an unethical act.
The perpetrator should take full responsibility after causing damage and harm to the victim, according to Kantian theory.
Repairing the damage caused to the victim through monetary or in-kind offers is a way of the perpetrator taking responsibility for their unethical actions.
crimes such as murder do not permit restitution due to the irreplaceable value of life (Braswell et al., 2014).
Besides, killers are a significant threat to many individuals in the community.
They call for severe punishment to the offenders of such crimes and not just a mediation.
Using a restorative approach to handle brutal murder cases becomes a legal and constitutional issue based on ethical considerations on the crime.
unpunished.
Sometime, restorative justice programs be considered unfair as they not fully address the needs of the victim.
Victims may be afraid of being part of the program (Choi et al., 2012).
They may be pressured to participate and accept the result,
some affected victims may show re-victimized feelings during the restorative justice processes.
In some cases, the victim’s needs may be downgraded and re-victimized through restorative program (Van Camp & Wammer, 2013).
The affected murder victim may accept the restorative results due to fear and anxiety.
References
Choi, J. J., Bazemore, G., & Gilbert, M. J. (2012). Review of research on victims’ experiences in restorative justice: Implications for youth justice. Children and Youth Services Review, 34(1), 35-42.
Edwards, B., Braswell, M. C., McCarthy, B. R., & McCarthy, B. J. (2014). Justice, Crime, and Ethics.
Hamlin, J. B., & Hokamura, A. (2014). The cultural context of restorative justice: Journeys through our cultural forests to a well-spring of healing. International Journal for the Semiotics of Law-Revue internationale de Sémiotique juridique, 27(2), 291-310.
Johnstone, G. (2013). Restorative justice: Ideas, values, debates. Routledge.
Maher, J. (2014). Restorative Justice: An essential component to the legal system.
Marshall, C. D. (2020). Restorative justice. In Religion Matters. Springer, Singapore.
Van Camp, T., & Wemmers, J. A. (2013). Victim satisfaction with restorative justice: More than simply procedural justice. International Review of Victimology, 19(2), 117-143.

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