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In his writing on justice and equality, Aristotle attempts to define ways in which systems of justice can be used to create truly equal societies. As he lays out his argument, Aristotle introduces the idea of restorative justice as an alternative to deterring crime through punishment. Restorative justice is means for a community to examine its justice system and create policies that work to solve the root of crimes, rather than simply deterring them. It allows the community to move beyond thinking about the individual and look at the system as a whole.
Restorative justice is a useful philosophical approach when evaluating the American justice system. Its ideas can be used to solve an urgent question affecting all Americans:How do we fix a broken justice system when it is perpetrating deplorable crimes against its citizens, rather than providing equality in treatment for all? Our nation’s leaders are finally attempting to answer this question through bills like The Record Expungement Designed to Enhance Employment (REDEEM) Act. Bills like the REDEEM Act would work toward mending the debilitating collateral consequences of our justice system and restore the damage that has been done to far too many Americans.
Anyone who has examined the complications of the criminal justice system is aware of the arguments made by Michelle Alexander in The New Jim Crow.
