Restorative Justice

Our current justice system works on the principle of revenge. As we saw in the movie Dead Man Walking, both murderers and the families of victims suffered emotional and physical pain because of the death penalty. Although the parents of the children thought that Matt's death would bring them peace, in reality in brought them nothing but more pain. I believe that the idea of restorative justice could be a more healing and reconciling way to deal with crimes like these. Granted, it would be very hard to implement. If a parent loses a child, their first instinct is to hate and wish revenge upon the person who killed their child. Forgiveness will not come easily. Focusing on the victims and victims' families and the personal needs of them as well as the offender offers a better alternative to our current system that only focuses on abstract legal terms and punishments. By implementing a system of restorative justice, we would add a little bit of love into a hateful situation. I believe that this little bit of love would make all the difference.