Restorative Justice (RJ) and Gender:
How Women Police are best placed to
apply Restorative Justice Values in Policing
Practices?
Kamal Uddin Tipu PSP
Police Adviser
UN Office to the African Union (UNOAU)
Sequence
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What is Restorative Justice?
Dimensions of Crime
Needs and Roles of Victims Offenders Community
What are the RJ principles and values?
Traditional Justice Vs Restorative Justice
Personal journey to ‘Circles’
‘Circle’ values
‘Feminine’ Values
How Women Police Officers are best placed to
employ the Values in Policing Practices?
What is Restorative Justice?
 Addresses needs of victims offenders and Community
 Another way of looking at Crime
 Alternative way of thinking about wrong doing
Direction for the future
 Resolution and Transformation of Conflict
 Participatory Democracy beyond Majority: ‘Consensus’
 Principles Philosophy Guiding Questions
Dimensions of Crime
PUBLIC (SOCIETAL)
PRIVATE (LOCAL AND PERSONAL)
Needs and Roles of Victims,
Offenders & Community
-Crime is a violation of people and interpersonal
relationship
-Violations create obligations
-The central obligation to put right the wrong.
Restorative Justice Principles
1. Focus on the harms and consequent needs of the victims,
as well as the communities’ and the offenders:
2. Address the obligations that result from those harms (the
obligations of the offenders, as well as the communities
and society’s)
3. Use inclusive , collaborative processes
4. Involve those with a legitimate stake in the situation,
including victims, offenders, community members, and
society.
5. Seek to put right the wrongs.
What are the RJ Values?
-Relationship
-Responsibility
-Respect
Questions
Criminal Justice
Restorative Justice
What laws have been
broken?
Who has been hurt?
Who did it?
What are their needs?
What do they deserve?
Whose obligations are
these?
Two Different Views
Criminal Justice
Restorative Justice
• Crime is a violation of the
law and the state
• Violations create guilt
• Justice requires state to
determine blame (guilt) and
impose pain (punishment)
• Crime is a violation of
people and relationships
• Violations create obligations
• Justice involves victims,
offenders and community
members in an effort to put
things right
• Central focus: victim needs
and offender responsibility
for repairing harm
• Central focus: offenders
getting what they deserve
Old and New Justice Paradigm
Traditional Justice
Restorative Justice
Problem
• Defined narrowly,
abstractly, legally (what rule
was broken)
• Only legal variables (rules)
are relevant
• The state (organizational
authority) is the victim
• Defined relationally
• Overall context is relevant
• People are victims
Old and New Justice Paradigm
Traditional Justice
Restorative Justice
Actors
• State (organizational
authority) is active and
offender is passive
• Victim and offender is
primary with state
(organizational authority)
and community
Old and New Justice Paradigm
Traditional Justice
Restorative Justice
Process
• Adversarial, authoritarian,
technical, impersonal
• Focus is guilt and blame
• Neutralizing strategies
encouraged
• Participatory, maximizing
information, dialogue and
mutual agreement
• Focus is on needs and
obligations
Old and New Justice Paradigm
Traditional Justice
Restorative Justice
Outcomes
• Pain and suffering
• Harm by offender balanced
by harm to offender
• Oriented to past
• Making things right by
identifying needs and
obligations; healing,
problem solving
• Harm by offender balanced
by making it right
• Oriented to future
-Restorative Justice focus on harms
-Harms result in needs and obligations
-Restorative Justice promotes engagement
Definition of RJ
Restorative Justice is a process to involve, to the
extent possible, those who have a stake in a specific
offense and to collectively identify and address
harms, needs and obligations in order to heal and
put things as right as possible
Howard Zehr
Definition of RJ
Restorative Justice is a process whereby the parties
with a stake in the offense come together to resolve
collectively how to deal with the aftermath of the
offense and its implications for the future.
Tony Marshall
Restorative Practices
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Victim Offender Reconciliation Program
Victim Offender Conference/ Mediation
Family Group Conference
Jirga
Panchayat
Restorative Mediation
Criminal Justice Programs: Alternative or diversionary
programs; healing or therapeutic programs; &
transitional programs
• Circles
Circles
Circles Values
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Respect
Honesty
Humility
Sharing
Inclusivity
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Empathy
Courage
Forgiveness
Love
Trust
What are Feminine Values?
Feminine values
• Compassion
• Coordination
• Connection
Connectedness Relationship
How Women Police Officers are
best placed to employ the Values in
Policing Practices?
• Most women possess the feminine values
• Policing practices involve engaging with people
and community
• Investigation
• Community Policing
• Public relations
Thank you!
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tipu@un.org