An investigation into the offender's perception on restorative justice as an element of community corrections

Abstract

Restorative justice is a philosophy that serves as an umbrella label, to many victim and offender encounter problems across the world. Restorative justice offers the promise of a better way of dealing with the aftermath of offences. It focuses on the harm caused by the offence and offers socially constructive solutions to the problem. Restorative justice has long been applied in South Africa in different contexts. This system has underpinned social systems in Africa for many years and has been the basis for the resolution of disputes through African customary processes. An empirical study was conducted in order to establish the perception of offenders on restorative justice. A total number of 50 male respondents participated in the study. The study revealed that most offenders would like to make-up for the offences they committed . Most of the respondents would like to apologise to their victims. The study also revealed that most offenders are aware of victim and offender conferencing but do not know how the conferences can be arranged and conducted.