Review the presentations in the Reading & Study folder.
Competing perspectives in the criminal justice system are discussed, including certain Biblical Perspectives, one of which is restorative justice. Restorative justice focuses on restoring the victim by making the offender compensate the victim for the wrong and adding some punishment. Numbers 5:67 highlights this principle very well. “Say to the Israelites: When a man or woman wrongs another in any way[a]and so is unfaithful to the Lord, that person is guilty and must confess the sin he has committed. He must make full restitution for his wrong, add one fifth to it and give it all to the person he has wronged” (NIV 1984). There is also a secondary emphasis of reintegrating offenders back into society.
The topic of this course is Criminal Procedure. By nature, criminal procedure is rights-based. This is because much of the law comes from the Constitution, which was drafted to enumerate the powers of government. This limits government behavior to only those listed powers, but the Constitution also clearly lays out some rights (but not all) of states and citizens, particularly certain criminal procedure rights. As such, it can be said that criminal procedure focuses on the offenders rights and government behavior.
