Real life restoration- revised

As we continue to read Spelman’s novel, Repair she goes into greater depth of the versions of repair and there location. Spelman incorporates the idea of our justice system and the setup of reparation and restoration in real live situations. Starting the reading of chapter four Spelman throws out the idea of our justice system. She states the mentality of our system and the consequences. When criminals commit a felony or crime they are immediately sent to court for the hearing of their wrong doings, here a judge will determine the outcome of the criminal’s life.

In most cases they will be sentenced to several months or years in prison depending on their crime and age. In other cases many will have to complete a certain amount of community service hours to giveback to the community. Spelman harps on the idea of these punishments and begins to share her opinion on this topic. Since restoration and retributive punishment are two completely opposite approaches, with similar goals, it is often argued on which tactic is best.

Restorative vs retributive punishment. Restorative punishment is the light hearted way of forgiving a crime. The goal of using restorative method is to redeem and restore the original setting as if the incident never took place. With this goal restorative punishment is normally a humiliating or embarrassing personal gesture as things are wanted to go back to normal quickly and quietly. One known method of the restorative tactic would be confrontation, normally the criminals come face to face with those whom they have harmed or effected. Using this method it is hoped that the criminal could see eye to eye with their ways and learn from their actions and casualties.

On the opposite side of the spectrum would be retributive punishment. This form of punishment is most sought out for severe crimes as it is punishment of jail time. The goal of this tactic is to isolate, ban and forget about the criminal of offense. Unlike restorative, the action is too severe to forgive or go back to as if nothing happened. With intense cases like these the only solution best thought of is jail time as the criminal rots away.  

Spelman compares the two alternative punishments and debates to which is most effective. To completely understand the true differences of both consequences she mentions a brief but helpful short story for all readers to comprehend. She first begins by sharing a story about a woman who worked in a jewelry store. On one occasion the store noticed they were short of money in the register. As the boss confronted all workers they soon found out the woman who was the culprit. The boss told all the workers who stole the money and brought her in to be confronted by her fellow coworkers and boss.The woman broke down confessing to the crime, she was extremely embarrassed as they put her on the spot. She apologized and swore to never commit again. From that day on the woman remained a loyal worker.

This is an example of a restorative punishment. I believe this is the most effective form of repair of the justice system as the woman apologized and knew what she had done was wrong. Spelman agrees on this form of punishment, except for it’s minor but immense downfalls. Not all people are as honest and morally guided like the woman in the previous example. Many criminals may say sorry and seem forgiving but only to be let off and soon commit more and worse crimes. With these vital possible cons in the punishment it could be extremely dangerous, even fatal for some if we use this method on the wrong people. This is why this form of punishment is not being used due to its several flaws.

Although I do agree with Spelman and the moral correction of restorative punishment I do believe it is not reliable nor realistic. This is because many/all criminals may not go along with this plan and quickly trick the system to be let off free. Although restorative punishment cannot work for many individuals I have seen a real life example of this treatment come out successful. In my old neighborhood in the Bronx, New York there were a group of spray painters. There were about seven teenage boys who would spray paint in my community, vulgar words and signs around the towns and streets. At first nobody knew who would write these things but they were soon discovered. When caught in the act of their bad behavior they were noted and taken in. All of the teens were under the age of eighteen and were never truly prosecuted.

As the town slowly but surely found out the names of the boys who have been doing these works of corruption many were in shock as the neighborhood was so close, we all knew them personally. With much discussion in the town of what to do with our fellow neighbors/offenders we took the route of restorative punishment. All the boys were sat down with their disappointed parents and neighbors, they easily cracked, confessed and explained their motives.

After this deliberation my town soon quickly saw immense progress within the boys. They first began to take down their vandalism, cleaning the streets and stop signs. Not only did they successfully thrive from the restorative method but they also all chipped in for a community BBQ. In Spelmans chapter 5 she talks about the idea of an apology and how many benefit more from reparations. A reparation is a gift, money or significant prize which ties into an apology. My community did flourish off the idea of how the boys brought us all lunch, on top of the idea that they were extremely apologetic. Many can say they believed the boys made a 180 change over a week as many thought it was a miracle. This event truly spoke to me after reading Spelmans chapters on the justice system and human repair. I can now fully attest to the idea of restorative consequences and a reparation apology, although these tactics may not work for everyone. With my real life example of this event I do believe in this form of forgiveness, I believe it is simple and beneficial to not only the ones involved but ones around them. As Spelman explains the problems of restorative justice I do agree. Many things could have gone wrong with our trial and error practice on the boys but luckily they cooperated. This tactic could and would work for everybody if they had the same mentality as the woman in the jewelry shop and the boys in my community.

Real life restoration

As we continue to read Spelman’s novel, Repair she goes into the greater depth of the versions of repair and there location. Spelman incorporates the idea of our justice system and the setup of reparation and restoration in real live situations. Starting the reading of Chapter four Spelman throws out the idea of our justice system. She states the mentality of our system and the consequences. When criminals commit a felony or crime they are immediately sent to court for the hearing of their wrong doings, here a judge will determine the outcome of the criminal’s life. Most cases they will be sentenced to several months or year to prison depending on their crime and age, other times many will have to do community service or local work. Spelman harps on the idea of criminal punishments and begins to share her opinion on this topic. Following her idea of repair Spelman talks about the repair of humans in the criminal justice system.

Restorative vs rebuative punishment. Restorative punishment is the light hearted way of a crime, this is when a criminal is confronted by his/her crime and faces embarrassment and hopefully forgiveness on the situation. Oppose to Relative punishment which is jail time or federal consequences for their actions. Spelman compares the two alternative punishments and debates to which is most effective. To completely understand the true differences of both consequences she mentions a brief but helpful short story for all readers to comprehend. She first begins by sharing a story about a woman who worked in a jewelry store. On one occasion the store noticed they were short of money in the register. As the boss confronted all workers they soon found out the woman was the culprit. The boss told all the workers of the woman who did it and then brought her in to be confronted by her fellow coworkers and boss.The woman broke down confessing to the crime, she was extremely embarrassed as they put her on the spot. She apologized and swore to never commit again. From that day on the woman remained a noble worker. This is an example of a restorative punishment. I believe this is the most effective form of repair of the justice system as the woman apologized and knew what she had done was wrong. Spelman agrees on the idea of this form except for it’s minor by intense downfalls. Not all people are as honest and morally guided like the previous example. Many criminals might say sorry to be let off and soon commit more and dangerous crimes. This is why this form of punishment is not being used due to its several flaws.

Although I do agree with Spelman and the moral correction Restorative punishment I do believe it is not reliable nor realistic. This is because many/all criminals many not go along with this plan and quickly trick the system to be let off free. I can relate to this section of Spelman’s writing as I have seen a similar example. In my old neighborhood in the Bronx, New York there were a group of spray painters. There were about seven teenage boys who would spray paint in my community, vulgar words and signs around the towns and streets. At first nobody knew who would write these things but they were soon found. When caught in the act of their bad behavior they were noted and taken in. All of the teens were under the age of eighteen. As the town slowly but surely found out the name of the boys who have been doing this many were in shock as the neighborhood was so close, we all knew them. With much discussion in the town of what to do we took the route of restorative punishment. All the boys were sat down with their disappointed parents and neighbors,  they easily cracked, confessed and explained their motives. After this deliberation my town soon quickly saw immense progress within the boys. They first began to take down their vandalism, cleaning the streets and stop signs. Not only did they successfully thrive from the restorative method but they also all chipped in for a community BBQ. In Spelmans chapter 5 she talks about the idea of an apology and how many benefit more from reparations. A reparation is a gift, money or significant prize which ties to an apology. My community did flourish off the idea of how the boys brought us all lunch, on top of the idea that they were extremely apologetic. Many can say they believed the boys made a 180 change over a week as many thought it was a miracle. This event truly spoke to me after reading Spelmans chapters on the justice system and human repair. I can now fully attest to the idea of restorative consequences and a reparation apology, although these tactics may not work for everyone.

 

Repair in both roles

In the book Repair by Elizabeth Spelman she discusses the analogy and similarities between a repair shop and a household. While comparing two drastically different locations, she expands on the key common components they share. Spelman first goes into the mutual points of how a repair shop is like a home. She expands on the same characteristics they share and what both locations offer. A repair shop is to repair, restore and fix broken down or worn out items. When an object needs a fix the first and best option to go to for the damages would be a repairman. Also following the characteristics of a repair shop a like location would be a home. Spelman compares the traits of a repair shop and a household as they do similar work on humans, vs cars. In the household people come home tired, hungry and upset in need of restoration. The household offers attributes to aid those needs such as being fed, slept and kept in shelter. Both destinations restore, revive and rejuvenate their customers. Whether an inmate object or a family member both household and repair shop try to meet the same goals. By going into a repair shop or a home people are expecting to be refurbished and energized as both shelters share the trait of a quick fix. Going into depth of the household and repair shop she suggests the superiority of the gender roles in each. Spelman confesses that men take the upper hand in a physically repair shop but woman do their best work in an actual household. One line in chapter three, page forty two she writes,”To the extent to which women become the repairers of the choice of the household- including being healers of rifts, menders of hearts- there are dangers both for them and for the other member of it.” Spelman then goes into the work woman do around the house and version of the topic of repair. Both genders are involved in repairing but men are more incorporated with physical labor while women are most associated with emotional and mental work. Women are more affectionate and emotional when it comes to repairing, they do their best work on people not objects. She gives examples in the book about women repairing relationships within the household, whether between children or family members the women are the ones to step in and evaluate the situation. The women are the menders of the home, they will be the best person to forgive and console someone in need. Unlike women the men are bounded by the actual repair shop and fixing inanimate objects. But like both workshops, both have their element of danger and caution. Referring to the quote she claims “there are dangers both for them and for the other member of it”, this is relevant for both scenarios- male or female work. In the male profession danger can come physically and frequently, she gives an example in the book about the machinery and equipment used. Men have to take greater precautions to remain safe in their line of work, such as when involving the use of a torch and the necessary safety equipment they use. The workers can damage themselves while at work or can damage other members involves. While working and mistakenly ruining a customer’s prized possession it could affect not only the worker but the customer. As well as the female part, while trying to mend relationships in the household their work can easily become dangerous for not only herself but the members around her. While at work, woman as well have a touchy topic, emotions. Work in the mental field is arguably the most dangerous work as the chances of messing up could have an infinite number of possible side effects. Both men and women do similar work, although not the same location and audience they do try to achieve the same work, to repair. Spelman uses a great general sense of equality in this chapter when involving both genders at work. She appeals to men and women like they are the same, in the same line of work with similar dangers and problems. By demonstrating each genders strength in each location she makes a statement on the female and men working standards. Spelman recaps the importance of both gender roles in both lines of work. Each has their own speciality and talent relating to people and objects. Repair incorporates not only the feelings related to live people but also inmate objects and their relationships to their menders. Spelman puts a special emphasis on the same job me and women do and distinguishes the slight but key differences they share.