POSSIBILITIES OF USING RESTORATIVE JUSTICE AND MEDIATION TOOLS IN THE PROCESS OF SENTENCING AND PREVENTING CRIMINAL OFFENSES

Abstract

This article is devoted to the topical issues of the application of restorative justice and mediation tools within the framework of criminal justice, namely the imposition of a sentence and the consequences of serving it – the commission or abstention from committing new criminal offenses in the future. The author analyzes the state of implementation of these alternative institutions in our country, highlighting the challenges that prevent their wider spread. In recent years, the need to change the paradigm in the work of law enforcement agencies from punitive to restorative has become increasingly obvious. The application of the principle of the inevitability of punishment is not suficient, and it is not always possible to implement this principle in practice. This is especially evident in the case of first-time criminal

offenses, misdemeanors or crimes of minor gravity, and criminal offenses committed by minors. Often, after serving a sentence, especially in the form of imprisonment, the accused considers himself not as one who has been justly punished, but on the contrary - a victim of circumstances and criminal proceedings, without understanding the extent of the harm he has caused to the victim, which contributes to the repeated commission of criminal offenses, and therefore to recidivism. Restorative justice allows you to overcome the impersonality of the penitentiary system with both the victim of a criminal offense and the individuality of the accused, the transformation of his personality after punishment. Restorative justice is based on the ability not only to carry out actions to compensate for the damage, but also to understand and acknowledge the harm caused. A powerful tool in restorative justice is mediation between the victim and the offender, which is usually carried out in the form of a dialogue between them, with the participation of a neutral mediator. Despite the successful experience of applying restorative justice in many countries of the world, this practice has not yet gained significant distribution in our country. It is this circumstance that arouses the author’s scientific interest in studying modern trends in the development of restorative justice using mediation tools and in identifying further ways to popularize and develop these socio-legal institutions.