Victim-Offender Encounters in Restorative Justice Practices: Emotional Representations versus Genuine Affects

Abstract

Restorative justice is an alternative practice in justice whereby offenders and victims voluntarily encounter, empathise and finally reconcile with each other in the presence of family and relatives, and other mediators. However, studies of restorative justice reveal the problem of offenders’ sincerity and genuineness in terms of their remorse and guilt in such encounters. Based on a psychosocial criminological perspective, this paper offers a conceptual distinction between emotion and affect, and further argues that emotion refers to symbolic bodily–linguistic signifiers being adaptable and consciously manipulable according to social contexts, whilst affect indicates an energy or intensities experienced unconsciously and not being symbolised. Setting out various case studies and pieces of evidence, the paper suggests that under the pressure of negative affects such as anxiety and fear of a possible failure of restorative justice conferences, offenders tend to display positive symbolic-emotional representations in a way that would convince victims and other mediators of their guilt and shame. The latter usually leads to the expected–idealised result of the victim-offender encounter. A psychosocial criminological perspective should always be taken into consideration while restorative justice practices are claimed to be successful and implemented in a specific social and judicial setting.

Keywords

• Restorative justice,psychosocial criminology,emotions

Onarıcı Adalet Pratiklerinde Mağdur-Fail Karşılaşması: Duygusal Temsiller karşısında Hakiki Duygulanımlar

Abstract

Onarıcı adalet mağdur ve failin gönüllülük temelinde, yakınlarıyla birlikte ve arabulucular eşliğinde, karşı karşıya geldiği ve birbirleriyle empati kurarak uzlaştıkları alternatif bir adalet pratiğidir. Tartışmaların onarıcı adaletin hukuki ve sosyokültürel imkanlılık koşullarına odaklaştığı kriminoloji yazınında, sözü pek geçmese de taraflar arası uzlaşının aslî koşulu, failin utanç ve pişmanlık duymasını mümkün kılacak karşılıklı pozitif duygusal etkileşim ve aktarıma dayanmaktadır. Öte yandan onarıcı adalet araştırmaları, mağdur-fail karşılaşmalarında pişmanlık duygusu, özrün samimiliği ve sahihliği sorununu ortaya koymaktadır. Bu makale, psikososyal kriminolojik bir perspektifle duygu ve duygulanım arasında bir ayrıma gitmekte; duyguların sosyal bağlama göre bilinçle manipüle edilebilir sembolik bedensel–dilsel gösterenler olduğunu tartışırken, duygulanımların bilinçdışı deneyimlenen ve sembolikleştirilemeyen enerji ve yoğunluklar olduğunu ileri sürmektedir. Çeşitli vaka analizi ve bulgulardan hareketle makale, failin onarıcı adalet pratiğinin başarısızlığı neticesinde olası bir ceza tehdidi karşısında deneyimlediği endişe ve korku gibi negatif duygulanımlar nedeniyle, karşılaşmadan beklenilen idealize edilmiş sonucu sağlayacak ve mağduru ikna edebilecek pozitif sembolik-duygusal temsiller sergileyebilme durumunu tartışmaktadır. Bu nedenle, mağdur ve fail arasındaki etkileşim sürecinde duygusal kırılma anlarındaki duygulanımsal yoğunluklara dikkat edilmelidir. Belirli bir sosyal ve hukuki düzlemde onarıcı adalet uygulamalarının başarısı ve tesisi ileri sürülürken psikososyal kriminolojik perspektif göz önünde bulundurulmalıdır.

Keywords

• Onarıcı adalet,psikososyal kriminoloji,duygular

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