July 22, 2003
Home Office turns to God
I always hate to mention when the Government does something right. Fortunately, I don't have to do this very often.
Without giving any credit to Christian developers and proponents of its plan, the Home Secretary has announced plans to implement a pilot programme in Restorative Justice. I'm not sure how this is going to work with Hazel Blears' plan to pay criminals £20,000 a year. Perhaps that is how they will afford to pay restitution to their victims.
The point of Restorative Justice is to bring the offender face to face with the offended. They have to apologise to their victims and compensate any loss. There is no biblical formulation of double, four- or five-fold restitution, but it is correct as far as it goes.
It is one of the key policies promoted by Justice Fellowship, the public policy arm of Prison Fellowship. The idea has been successful in the United States in reducing recidivism. A biblical idea actually works. Surprise, surprise!
Posted by david at July 22, 2003 06:01 PM | TrackBack