The Study On The Restorative Justice

Restorative justice is a new model of criminal justice, originating in the 1970s in North America. The victim-criminal negotiation plan adopted in Kitchener in 1974 was considered as the first attempt in the world. Thereafter, the plan spread to Europe, influenced the world's criminal justice and received the United Nations' affirmation.This paper focuses on five aspects of restorative justice.The first part generally introduces the conception, the proposition, the developments and the major model of the restorative justice. Different countries have different practices. As an informal criminal justice model, restorative justice is not a widely accepted definition.The second part makes some comments on restorative justice's rationality and limitation from the theoretical and practical aspects. Though restorative justice fills up the traditional criminal justice, it is not perfect. It must answer many classical theoretical questions, such as how people to be equal before law and how to make the penalty adapt to the criminal responsibility. The academic circle must take these questions seriously.The third part focuses on the positive influence of restorative justice to the criminal justice in China. Restorative justice is important for our country to promptly resolve contradictions and conflicts and building a harmonious society.The fourth part focuses on the feasibility of the restorative justice in China from institutional, practical and cultural perspectives, and briefly analyzes the obstacles in applying it.The fifth part proposes the institution of the restorative justice in China. It is such a large project that not only needs the enforcement from the government, but also relies on the grandness of the community and the volunteers who are enthusiastic in public benefits and capable in negotiating. Meanwhile, in order to avoid the risk, it also designs an institution for studying the criminal's personality before the start of the process of the restorative justice; and for preventing the criminal from being excluded, it designs the national loan system. Moreover, the author also shows some personal ideas on the restorative justice.