Rescue, Rehabilitate and Reintegrate: A Moral Imperative?

• In Event: Impact of Restorative Justice in Institutional Settings

Abstract

Recent years have brought restorative justice and problem solving courts to the forefront of the criminal justice reform. In this rapidly expanding alternative to criminal justice low level offenders are diverted to rehabilitation and reintegration programs rather than traditional incarceration, usually following a guilty plea. Critics of the problem solving courts point to violations of due process and increased state surveillance, and posit that these courts are harboring a toxic environment of control and coercive compliance directed t low income and racial minorities offenders. This article critically evaluates the way the courts frame offenders, while noting the attitudes of court staff and judges toward the people coming through the system, their recommendations for treatment or sentencing, and the reactions offenders have to these evaluations.

Authors

• Claudia Cojocaru, Rutgers University

• Naomi Haber, John Jay College of Criminal Justice