Source: (2010) Justice Reflections. 25(JR177).
Restorative justice, then, has to be distinguished from retributive justice. The latter, put crudely, is the infliction upon the convicted criminal of punishment that goes some way to satisfying the perceived or imagined deisre of the wider community for retaliation. Retaliation derives its root from “talis” which we find in the context of the “lex talions”; the law of “an eye for an eye…” in e.g. Exodus 21:23-25; that is what retribution is; but what are we to make of that as Christians? Jesus expressly rejected “lex talionis.” (excerpt)
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