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Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

Abstract

This Note will examine how VOM between victims and violent offenders improves the criminal justice system and reduces recidivism. The Note will propose that there is a better remedy for violent crime than punitive prison sentences absent genuine efforts to reform. In Section II, this Note will discuss the breakdown of the U.S. criminal justice system, particularly the excessive incarceration rate and the ineffectiveness of the current retributive scheme, followed by a history and overview of VOM. Next, it will discuss the issue of prison recidivism, how it affects our society on both a social and economic level, and the strengths and weaknesses of the classic model of VOM. In the final sections, the Note proposes that on the basis of VOM's success with juvenile and non-violent offenders, as well as the established effect that forgiveness has on both emotional closure in victims and the development of empathy in offenders, the use of VOM in the context of violent crime is an appropriate means of reducing prison recidivism, thereby improving the broken state of the U.S. criminal justice system.

Disciplines

Criminal Law | Criminal Procedure | Dispute Resolution and Arbitration | Law

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