Empowering Victims & Perpetrators (Mere Mortals Episode #62 - Restorative Justice)

Published: July 19, 2020, 7 a.m.

Is there a better, utilitarian form of administering justice than the system of retributive justice? In this themed episode Juan and Kyrin discuss the topic of 'Restorative Justice'. The basic principle of restorative justice is to repair the harm caused by criminal behaviour, rather than the retributive justice system of ensuring that people get what they deserve (i.e., punishment). This usually involves a meeting between the victim and offender with the aim of making amends for the harm and enabling reintegration of the parties into their communities.

As part of the discussion the Mere Mortals crew also dive into: real life examples of how restorative justice is applied, whether the principle benefit is for the victim or offender, the empathetic requirements for the system to actually work and some reasons downsides of its application. As always, we hope you enjoy, Mere Mortals out!