Restorative Justice

Essay by slappy_chops May 2005

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Essay topic one:

Discuss the following quote

"[while] shame is an inevitable fact of the human condition, its form is not. While it is neither realistic nor desirable to seek to maximise cultural propensities to shame nor minimise them, we can craft institutions that shape the form shame takes, in particular that creates spaces for a healthy shame management...."

The proposal that institutions can be crafted to "create spaces" for a healthy kind of shame in a culturally diverse society such as Australia is in my opinion positive for the moulding of our future society.

As Australia has a diverse society that is structured by socio-economic and political inequities and is divided by racial-ethnic groups, this in my opinion would make it difficult to develop, manage and maximise cultural propensities to shame, that would emulate a societal justice system that is acceptable to all.

In my view, to create multiple justice models designed to cater for the individual, such as Aboriginal, Muslim, Greek, and Vietnamese communities to name but a few, would lead to the inability to gauge effectiveness of shaming techniques and the benefit to the community as a whole.

How Shame is individually managed is critical to the outcomes of any shaming experience. Shame is explained by a persons beliefs about the ethicality of what was done, others beliefs about it's wrongness (communicated thru shaming) the nature of the relationship with those others (whether they are highly respected), and how those others communicate their views (reintegrative or stigmatically).

As a result of this cultural diversity and the intricacies of shame management, it is a strong argument to create well-resourced institutions, with community support and within the constraints of legislation that can cater and deliver management programs that consider individually the shaming management process.

The introduction and development of...