If you commited a crime, you should be punished. That's the concept of justice that most people know. Depending on how bad the crime is, an offender is either imprisoned, fined, killed by no other than the government itself, or meted some other form of punishment. He should suffer for the suffering he inflicted on another citizen. But isn't it true that the criminal has been suffering already? Even before he committed the crime, he was already suffering. He's been suffering all his life because of his circumstances, a huge part of which he could not control.
The truth is most of us are victims. We've been victimized by our circumstances. Many prisoners have been victims of poverty, of defective upbringing, of negative social influences, of prejudices and stereotypes, and so on. Most have encountered injustices in many forms, even before they committed the crime for which they are paying. Oftentimes, the criminal commits a crime connected to the injustices he has experienced. People are not born criminals. It's the environment which made them such.
If only we really believe in the dignity of the human person, and if we really uphold the respect and humanity that each of us deserves (no matter how bad a person appears to be), we would heed more the call of restorative justice.
Societies have embraced punitive justice for a very long time. Punitive justice is how the God in the Old Testament punished people for their crimes. There were less mercy. There were vengeance. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. The punishment should match the severity of the offence. The problem with this approach is its ineffectiveness. It does not discourage criminal behavior. This had always been true in the past and remains true until the present.
Restorative justice, on the other hand, is like how the God in the New Testament deals with people's sins. There is forgiveness. There is reconciliation and healing between the offender and the victim, their families, and the community. Attempts are done to repair the injuries. This calls for more compassion, understanding and kindness because we are all humans after all, who are capable of making mistakes and worthy of each other’s forgiveness.