Police: Restorative Justice and Crime Prevention in Local Communities
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Abstract
The
emergence of restorative justice is the result of one of the developments in
criminal justice attitudes and crime-oriented thinking over the past two
decades. Restorative justice is a balanced and holistic approach to crime
situations and by using means such as mediation, strives to not only provide
for the benefit of all victims affected by the crime, but also to provide the
grounds for rehabilitation and socialization of the offenders. Realizing the
goals of restorative justice requires actors who, while being acquainted with
the foundations and goals of restorative justice, also believe in its
principles. Undoubtedly, the police, as one of the most important institutions responsible
for responding to the criminal phenomenon and as the first institution to refer
victims after the crime, play an important role in the implementation of
restorative plans. In Community policing prevention of crime, the police, in
addition to using the tools defined in the criminal justice system, uses the
co-operation and participation of social and governmental institutions to
control the perpetrators. The results indicate that the mediating role of the
police will reduce the offender's re-tendency to commit crimes by a
process-oriented approach and by utilizing the capacities of the local
community, with the potential to influence his or her individual and social
circumstances. In other words, the more process-oriented the tendency of the
police to mediate, the more likely the crime will be prevented, and conversely,
the more the police focus on the results and the size of the files, the more
likely the crime will be prevented by the offender.