International Journal on Criminology Volume 1, Number 1, Fall 2013 | Page 17

International Journal on Criminology––Volume 1––Number 1––Fall 2013
Restorative Justice: The Dual Recognition of Crime Victims and
Offenders
Robert Cario
Restorative justice emerged in the English-speaking world in the 1970s, 1 and since
the 1980s has gradually developed in Continental Europe to varying degrees.
Apart from a few rare measures (rare in their nature and their application), it has
been oddly slow to take hold in France. Yet with the traditional criminal justice system
afflicted by crisis in recent years, it is full of promise. 2 Despite this obvious crisis of the
purely punitive approach to criminal justice, we should not be blind to the considerable
progress achieved since the Enlightenment and given concrete expression in the recent
advent of human rights. The current system aims to respect the rights of protagonists in a
conflict by ensuring the rule of law (particularly the principles of legality, equality, and
due process) and protection of individuals (essentially the principles of dignity, protection
of victims, and the presumption of innocence). Criminal proceedings have become
increasingly fair (due to the principles of independence and impartiality of the judiciary,
of respect for the right to defense, of equality of arms, and of professionalism) and
effective (with the principles of proportionality and a swift trial). Similarly, consideration
of the protagonists' personalities (offenders, victims, and families) and of their respective
environments, and a concern for their expectations and needs, have led to the provision of
legal, psychological, and social support and monitoring programs from the moment the
offense is committed until they are reintegrated into society as fully and harmoniously as
possible. More recently, a growing awareness of the complementary potentialities of
restorative justice measures holds great promise for the enhancement of the criminal
justice system.
1. The crisis of the contemporary penal system and the emergence of restorative
justice
The fact remains that today, the penal machine continues to run blind: it defines
neither the crime, nor the punishment, nor the victim. Far from being specific to the
French system, similar liberties are taken with the very object of the justice system’s
raison d'être in most countries in the world. This has serious consequences, giving free
rein to all sorts of interpretations and removing any possibility of evaluating the
objectives sought. Yet each of these key concepts of criminal justice may be given an
overall definition, without too much trouble; except, that is, that by the same token this
would explicitly acknowledge the functional deficiencies and structural shortcomings of
the current system. Crime, in the general sense of penology, is manifest in the
infringement of a value considered fundamental for the human, social, and cultural
sustainability of the group within which the conflict emerged. This is simply a logical and
coherent application of the principles of justice and of utility, which alone can serve to
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1 . H. Zehr, Changing Lenses: A New Focus for Crime and Justice (Herald Press, 1990); H. Zehr,
La justice restaurative. Pour sortir des impasses de la logique punitive (Labor et Fides, 2012).
2 . R. Cario, La justice restaurative. Principes et promesses, L’Harmattan, Paris, Coll. Sciences
criminelles, Second Edition, 2010; D. Salas, La justice dévoyée. Critique des utopies sécuritaires
(Paris: Les Arènes, 2012).
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