AD ALTA
JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH
SLOVAK ADOLESCENTS’ VIEW OF THE PERSONS SERVING AN ALTERNATIVE SENTENCE
a
BEÁTA BALOGOVÁ,
b
MIRIAMA ŠARIŠSKÁ,
c
MARTIN
HAMADEJ
Institute of Educology and Social Work, Faculty of Arts,
University of Prešov, Ul. 17. novembra No. 1, 080 01 Prešov,
Slovakia
Email:
a
beata.balogova@unipo.sk,
b
miriama.sarisska1@gmail.com,
c
martin.hamadej@gmail.com
This paper is an outcome of the project Gapu 12/2019 Slovak adolescents’ view of the
persons serving an alternative sentence.
Abstract: OBJECTIVES. The authors examine the current state of adolescent
university students’ awareness of restorative justice in Slovakia, while focusing on the
attitudes towards persons serving an alternative sentence (other than a custodial
sentence). BACKGROUND. Presented research has background in theoretical concept
of forensic social work which. Forensic social work generally focuses on the
dimension of problem behavior, which in Slovak conditions falls within the
competence of the Department of Social and Legal Protection of Children and Social
Guardianship. Also this area of social work concentrates on the behavior of the social
work clients in the context of delinquency to criminal activities. The present paper
attempts to explicate the factors, including changeable and risky ones, affecting the
attitudes of adolescent university students (from the fields of humanities and technical
sciences) towards a shift from retributive to restorative justice by means of alternative
non-custodial sentencing. METHODS. In present research, original questionnaire
(consisting of 26 questions) was used in order to explore the student
′s attitudes to
restorative justice and persons serving an alternative sentence. RESULTS. The
findings of the study have revealed that social work students are more sensitive to
restorative justice and alternative sentence. Furthermore, the present research has
shown that attitudes can be changed trought the level of knowledge and awareness.
Keywords: restorative justice, retributive justice, a victim, an offender, a sentence.
1 Introduction
The starting point for analyzing personal and social factors that
affect the young generation’s expectations and actual
possibilities regarding their attitude and value formation is the
theoretical reflection of students’ attitudes to restorative justice
and to persons serving an alternative sentence. The issue has
been dealt with within forensic social work, which, as foreign
and Slovak authors (Green, Thorpe, Traupmann, 2005; Barker
and Branson, 2000; Balogová, 2016, 2017; Levická, 2017;
Maschi and Killian, 2009, 2011; Munson, 2011; Roberts and
Springer, 2007; Rome, 2011; Sinclar, 2002; Šarišská and
Balogová, 2017, 2019) and the National Organization of
Forensic Social Work argue, is a theoretical and practical
framework addressing the issues of crime, justice, advocacy, etc.
"Foreign historically built forensic practice in the social field
focuses predominantly on the penitentiary issues (although the
NOFSW states also other areas of interest) and on the client’s
problems related to it. At present, the areas and focuses of
forensic social workers' activities are being defined and
delineated, as this sphere of social work is being rebuilt and the
interest in it is awakened" (Šarišská and Balogová, 2019, pp. 22-
23; the authors’ translation). Forensic social work has been
primarily developed in Anglo-Saxon areas, while in Slovakia it
is understood "as an area dealing with the entire spectrum of
client behavior problems – from the first conduct disorders in
social-legal protection and social guardianship, through the
unacceptable behavior of juveniles referred to as misdemeanors
and criminal offences, the impaired behavior of mentally
disabled persons (as clients of clinical social work), to the
behavior of persons facing a trial, sentenced persons and persons
after serving their sentence, not forgetting the entire circle of
people involved in the forensic social work client community”
(Balogová, 2017, p. 82; the authors’ translation).
2 Brief Literature Review
In the present context, we assume that restorative justice presents
a significant humanist shi
ft in the judiciary. Sotolař, Púry and
Šámal (2000, p. 5; the authors’ translation) argues that "the
concept of restorative justice is a concept of treatment of
offenders, different from the classical "retributive" sentence
judiciary, based on the view that criminal justice is not an
adequate response of society to the growth of crime, and does
not lead to the protection of individuals and society." This
argument is also supported by Sotolář, Púry and Šámal (2000),
who believe that the establishment of restorative justice is
necessary because "traditional" criminal policy has already
exhausted its possibilities and is unable to prevent crime growth
or address the growing criminal justice problems, such as
enormous burdens on courts, low efficiency of sentencing, and
lack of protection for victims. The restorative approach to the
resolution of the conflict with criminal law does not suggest that
classical sentencing procedures and sanctions be rejected; rather,
it represents their complementation, widened choice of response
to crime, and the introduction of the possibility for a
personalized approach to the offender. Consequently, it
positively affects the effectiveness of criminal sanctions.
The authors further argue that "retributive justice or punishing
justice is an approach that defines a criminal act as a conflict
between the offender and the state. In this case, the state
substitutes for the victim and applies sanctions on behalf of the
victim, without the victim having to intervene in the criminal
procedure concerned. The criminal procedure primarily focuses
on the committed criminal act. Criminal liability of the offender
is understood only formally and the aim is to punish the
offender. The prevention of recurrence is ensured by causing
harm to the offender. Restorative justice draws on the
assumption that a crime is a conflict between two or more
parties. It is a conflict between their value systems on the
background of the normative s
ystems of society" (Sotolář, Púry
and Šámal 2000, s. 3-9). Therefore, they can only be effectively
dealt with under the condition that all parties concerned are
actively involved. It takes into account the actual personal
responsibility of the offender for the unlawful act. A criminal act
is perceived not only from a legal point of view, but from a
whole complex of psychological, ethical, moral, social and
economic aspects.
Drawing on the literature review and on the reflection of the
available resources, it can be stated that a very important part of
the sentencing itself is directing attention to the offender and the
victim. Parolees, offenders released from their custodial
sentence, or persons serving an alternative sentence have a
variety of needs. They are not self-sufficient in fulfilling these
needs, in particular the following ones: access to health care,
including the treatment of addiction or other mental disorders;
coping with social stigmatization; financial literacy education;
financial stability assistance, including the assistance in
overcoming social barriers during job search; retraining;
assisting in establishing or strengthening healthy relationships
(family, friends, predominantly relationship with children);
assistance in providing housing; clear feedback from people
around them on their expectations and needs, and their support
in fulfilling those needs; people's willingness to support the
offender in changing their value orientation, lifestyle, and in
reintegration processes; assistance in developing personal and
social skills, such as problem solving, leisure management; an
opportunity to understand the victim’s needs, etc. It is still
important to emphasize that, in order to successfully reintegrate
the offender into everyday life, assisting professionals involved
in the reintegration and readaptation of offenders, a wider and
closer family, colleagues at work (former or future), neighbors,
friends, the community and/or whole society play an important
role in this regard.
In the present research, we have primarily focused on identifying
and analyzing university students' attitudes to custodial sentence
and its alternatives that are part of restorative justice. We believe
that restorative justice is a specific means of redressing the
offender, while not contradicting the purpose of the sentence.
Although its place in the society is invaluable, it is not discussed
very much, and the public often does not have extensive
information on the issue under question. We have decided to
verify this statement; the subjects of the research were university
technical sciences students who despite the absence of this type
of training, consider the questions of alternative sentence up-to-
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