Revista Română de Sociologie (Jan 2008)
Cristina Dâmboeanu, Assessments of the efficient implementation of restorative justice in Romania
Abstract
During the last years, the juvenile justice system in Romania has faced many difficulties which have determined, experimentally at least, the change of the emphasis laid upon the model of retributive (official) justice and the adoption of a new model based upon the increasing role played by community in the justice act and, complementarily, in the activities meant to re-socialize and re-insert juvenile offenders. In this context, more and more specialists of this field have got aware of the necessity of change with respect to criminal law policies meant for the punishment and treatment of juvenile offenders in Romania, by diversifying the intervention and prevention modalities of action conducted by the institutions meant to socialize and control youth from a social point of view, and especially by introducing principles and practices of restorative justice within the criminal law. The latter are meant to lead to the implication of community in the criminal law system and to an increasing number of juvenile offenders who should profit by punishments which are non-liberty-privative. The experience of many countries has demonstrated that the introduction of restorative justice practices within juvenile legislation may become on long term a living alternative to retributive justice. Both systems can function in parallell, thus offering much more efficient solutions to the problems concerning juvenile crime and punishments meant for juvenile offenders.
