History
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Restorative approaches to crime date back thousands of years:
- In Sumer, the Code of Ur-Nammu (c. 2060 BC) required restitution for violent offenses.
- In Babylon, the Code of Hammurabi (c. 1700 BC) prescribed restitution for property offenses.
- In Israel, the Pentateuch specified restitution for property crimes.
- In Rome, the Twelve Tables (449 BC) compelled convicted thieves to pay double the value of stolen goods.
- In Ireland, under the Brehon Laws (first recorded in the Old Irish period) compensation was the mode of justice for most crimes.
- In Germany, tribal laws promulgated by King Clovis I (496 AD) called for restitutive sanctions for both violent and nonviolent offenses.
- In England, the Laws of Ethelbert of Kent (c. 600 AD) included detailed restitution schedules.
- In North America, justice in First Nations and Native American communities have had aspects of restorative justice.
- In New Zealand/Aotearoa, prior to European contact, the Maori had a well-developed system that protected individuals, social stability and the integrity of the group.
Retributive justice began to replace such systems following the Norman invasion of Britain in 1066 A.D. William the Conqueror's son, Henry I, detailed offenses against the “king’s peace.” By the end of the 11th century, crime was no longer perceived as injurious to persons, but rather was seen as an offense against the state.
More recent examples of restorative justice include South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the practicing of informal dispute resolution in the Gullah Islands of South Carolina.
Read more about this topic: Restorative Justice
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“When the landscape buckles and jerks around, when a dust column of debris rises from the collapse of a block of buildings on bodies that could have been your own, when the staves of history fall awry and the barrel of time bursts apart, some turn to prayer, some to poetry: words in the memory, a stained book carried close to the body, the notebook scribbled by hand—a center of gravity.”
—Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)
“Let it suffice that in the light of these two facts, namely, that the mind is One, and that nature is its correlative, history is to be read and written.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“It’s a very delicate surgical operation—to cut out the heart without killing the patient. The history of our country, however, is a very tough old patient, and we’ll do the best we can.”
—Dudley Nichols, U.S. screenwriter. Jean Renoir. Sorel (Philip Merivale)