Restorative justice and the RCMP: Definitions and directions

Source: (2000) Gazette: A Royal Canadian Mounted Police Publication 62 (5/6): 8-11.

In examining restorative justice in relation to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Lenore Richards maintains that formal or retributive justice focuses on the apprehension, conviction, and sentencing of the offender. Yet it does little to make offenders accept responsibility, to rehabilitate them, and to reintegrate offenders into the community upon their release. Furthermore, formal or retributive justice does little to address the needs and rights of victims. Because of all of this, writes Richards, the RCMP endorses restorative justice as a cornerstone of its community policing initiative. To explain the RCMP perspective, Richards first defines key restorative justice ideas, then sketches how the RCMP have used and developed restorative practices from their origins in aboriginal tradition to the present model of the Community Justice Forum.