Building social support for restorative justice through the media: is taking the victim perspective the most appropriate strategy?

Abstract

Despite the encouraging results of public opinion assessments on restorative justice, people are not likely to spontaneously suggest restorative measures after a crime. Restorative justice thus seems in need of a public relations strategy. This paper discusses the strategy labeling victims as the universal remedy to promote restorative justice, and the proposal of promoting restorative justice through the media by foregrounding crime victims in media reports on crime. This strategy stems from a belief that the most appealing aspect of restorative justice to the public is its thoughtfulness to victims. However, I will argue that there are three problems with this approach. These concern: (1) the victim’s position in both restorative justice theory and practice; (2) the characteristics of media reporting on crime in general and victims in particular; and (3) the risk of attaining a result opposite to the initial objective (i.e. increasing punitive attitudes instead of promoting restorative justice).

Keywords:

• restorative justice
• social support
• victimology
• victim identity
• media
• public opinion

Notes

1. For an extensive discussion on this see Daems (2008).

2. For an extensive overview of the methodological problems encountered in the area of public opinion research see also Roberts (1992).

3. See e.g. Ashworth, calling the developments of “victims in the service of severity” or “victims in the service of offenders” forms of victim prostitution (2000, p. 186).

4. I should mention that Daly (2005, pp. 11–12) also found that, despite the findings I discuss here, victims are still better served when their case goes to a conference rather than a court. However I do not want to enter in the discussion on the benefits of restorative justice as opposed to conventional criminal justice in this article.

5. For example, Rock (2002) in his review of factors responsible for the rediscovery of the victim ascribes only some precursors of restorative justice a role in this.

6. Examples of such news values are the proximity of the crime, the violence involved in the crime or the possibility of visualizing a case. See Jewkes (2004).

7. The well‐known example of the classic prison sentence documents this stance: although its ineffectiveness has been proven repeatedly, the sentence remains the central point of reference in societal debate about crime and punishment.

8. To those interested in a detailed clarification on this issue, I highly recommend Tulloch (2006).

9. The article was originally published in Dutch. All translations are my own. I would like to thank the author, Bart Eeckhout, for his permission to use and cite the article.