About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

52 Stan. L. Rev. 751 (1999-2000)
Goodbye to Hammurabi: Analyzing the Atavistic Appeal of Restorative Justice

handle is hein.journals/stflr52 and id is 771 raw text is: PROSECUTING VIOLENCE: A COLLOQUY ON RACE, COMMUNITY, AND JUSTICE Goodbye to Hammurabi: Analyzing the Atavistic Appeal of Restorative Justice Richard Delgado* A recent innovation in criminal justice, the restorative justice movement has serious implications for the relationship among crime, race, and communi- ties. Restorative justice, which sprang up in the mid-1970s as a reaction to the perceived excesses of harsh retribution,features an active role for the victims of crime, required community service or some other form of restitution for offend- ers, and face-to-face mediation in which victims and offenders confront each other in an effort to understand each other's common humanity. This article questions whether restorative justice can deliver on its prom- ises. Drawing on social science evidence, the author shows that the informal setting in which victim-offender mediation takes place is apt to compound ex- isting relations of inequality. It also forfeits procedural rights and shrinks the public dimension of disputing. The article compares restorative justice to the traditional criminal justice system, finding that they both suffer grave deficien- cies in their ability to dispense fair, humane treatment. Accordingly, it urges that defense attorneys and policymakers enter into a dialectic process that pits the two systems ofjustice, formal and informal, against each other in competi- tion for clients and community support. In the meantime, defense attorneys should help defendants find and exploit opportunities for fair, individualized treatment that may be found in each system. 751 * Jean Lindsley Professor of Law, University of Colorado-Boulder. J.D., 1974, U.C. Ber- keley. I gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Andrea Wang in the preparation of this essay.

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most