EIRP Proceedings, Vol 9 (2014)

Abstract

The victims’ discontent regarding the retributive justice system, the failure to achieve the punishment’s goal aiming to decrease the risk to repeat the offence, the increasing role of the victim in the criminal trial, the high cost that the criminal procedures imply, the courts’ overload have determined the evolution of the restorative justice ideas. Therefore, the victim received an active role in the process of solving the conflicts submitted to the court, while the offender’s role is to assume the responsibility and to repair the harm he caused. While the classic justice system is based on the idea that any felony brings harm to the state itself, the restorative justice model is based on the idea that any offence is firstly a conflict between individuals, causing damage and harm to the victim, to the community, and to the offender himself.