Restorative justice as a conflict transformation instrument: An analysis from howard zehr and john paul lederach theories

Abstract

The traditional methods of conflict resolution in the criminal field have been criticized several times and have recently given rise to several means of dealing differently with the criminal case. Restorative justice appears in this context as a powerful mechanism to deal with these events, in that it proposes that the parties involved construct for themselves a better and more efficient response to the criminal event. On the other hand, care must be taken to ensure that these new means do not lead only to impose a solution to the conflict, leading to the same problems observed in the classical procedures. In this way, the present article proposes the analysis of restorative justice, as formulated by Howard Zehr, in the conception of the transformation of conflicts established by John Paul Lederach, surpassing and complementing the old legal model of imposition of decisions.