The Restorative Paradigm: The (De)Legitimization of Punishment as a Response in the Penal System and the Construction of a New Model of Criminal Justice

Abstract

The emerging paradigm of restorative justice presents itself as a contemporary model of criminal justice, grounded in values that have increasingly gained prominence in the national context as a more humane approach to conflict resolution. It seeks to repair the harm caused by crime through dialogue among the involved parties—offender, victim, and community—and the reconstruction of disrupted relationships. Within this framework, the present study aims to analyze the (de)legitimization of the punitive system, as well as the emergence and development of restorative justice as an alternative to traditional justice in light of the crisis of the retributive model. To this end, the study contextualizes this new approach to justice by outlining the main theoretical contributions to its development, its principles, and its objectives. It also establishes a comparison between the current model and the restorative paradigm, demonstrating the connection between restorative thinking and the notion of restoring the individual’s role as a rights-bearing subject within the community, offering a viable response to a punitive system in crisis.