Restorative Justice Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Restorative Justice - Article Example With increasing incidence of crime in general and in particular among young people1, the past two decades have brought forth harsher legislation2 to deal with the problems of terrorism and deteriorating law and order, which seriously question former Prime Minister John Major’s contention that â€Å"we have no need of a Bill of Rights because we have freedom.†3 Anti-Social Behavior orders have been introduced by the crime and Disorder Act of 1998, specifically to deal with law and order problems among the youth and have a minimum period of two years, although they may also be imposed indefinitely to ensure that a repetition of antisocial behavior does not occur4. Anti Social Behavior Order was created in 1998 and in the short space of six months in 2004, produced a thousand arrests.5 This Order has allowed extended powers for the police department to tackle a wide range of anti-social behavior by unruly teenagers, including the kind of problems this community is faced with – vandalism and shoplifting. But the fact that must be faced is that the criminal justice system does not work, too many people are able to slip out of the net of the system because of the rigid requirements for evidence, delays in processing trials in courts, the difficulty of procuring witnesses to substantiate charges because of the element of fear, so that the end result favors the criminals rather than the law enforcement authorities, so perhaps such draconian measures are justified.6 However, Lord Macintosh of Haringey had spoken out on the provisions concerning public order in the Criminal Justice Act of 1994.