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@ISIDEWITHQuestionsCriminal IssuesStarted 8mos agoActive 5 days ago

Should the government implement restorative justice programs as an alternative to incarceration?

Restorative justice programs focus on rehabilitating offenders through reconciliation with victims and the community, rather than through traditional incarceration. These programs often involve dialogue, restitution, and community service. Proponents argue that restorative justice reduces recidivism, heals communities, and provides more meaningful accountability for offenders. Opponents argue that it may not be suitable for all crimes, could be perceived as too lenient, and may not adequately deter future criminal behavior.

13 Replies

 @ISIDEWITHDiscuss this answer...8mos8MO

Yes

 @ISIDEWITHDiscuss this answer...8mos8MO

No

 @ISIDEWITHasked…4mos4MO

In your opinion, what should justice ideally look like: punishment or repairing harm?

 @ISIDEWITHasked…4mos4MO

Do you believe people who commit serious crimes deserve a second chance, and why?

 @ISIDEWITHasked…4mos4MO

How would you personally feel about participating in a program that aims to heal, rather than punish, if you were harmed by someone else's actions?

 @ISIDEWITHasked…4mos4MO

Can you think of a time when talking things out with someone made a problem better, rather than making them 'pay' for what they did?

 @ISIDEWITHasked…4mos4MO

What role do you believe a community should have when someone makes a mistake that harms others?

 @ISIDEWITHasked…4mos4MO

Do you think focusing on 'restoring' after a crime could impact the rate of reoffending in a positive or negative way?

 @ISIDEWITHasked…4mos4MO

How might focusing on repairing harm instead of punishing influence the way society views people who have broken the law?

 @ISIDEWITHasked…4mos4MO

What are the types of situations where you think forgiving and working toward healing might actually be harder than traditional punishment?

 @B295LZXChristian Valuesanswered…5 days5D

Yes.Restoration and reconciliation are essential parts of justice.(2 Corinthians 5:18, Matthew 18:15-17)

 @ISIDEWITHasked…4mos4MO

How do you imagine justice systems retaining fairness when different victims may feel differently about what 'making things right' means for them?

 @ISIDEWITHasked…4mos4MO

How do you think a victim might feel facing the person who wronged them in a conversation rather than seeing them punished by jail time?

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Active 6hrs ago

 @ISIDEWITH submitted…2mos2MO

Trump’s Unlikely Victory Among Arab Americans and Right-Wing Jews

It is an extraordinary new coalition. Along the way to his decisive victory over Vice President Kamala Harris, Mr. Trump drew at least some Arab American and Muslim voters who are outraged by the Biden administration’s support for Israel in the war in Gaza. He managed to do so without alienating the right-leaning American Jews who see Mr. Trump as Israel’s strongest champion.Even in an election marked by a reordering of the country’s traditional political teams, these strange bedfellows stand out. The two groups hold sharply divergent expectations for the president-elect. And both strongly pro-Israel Trump voters and some of Mr. Trump’s Arab American backers are skeptical that his ascent this week is the start of a durable cross-ideological, interfaith coalition.But in Dearborn, Mich., a majority-Arab city, Ms. Harris won just 36 percent of the vote, according to unofficial results, a roughly 34-percentage-point drop from Mr. Biden’s share of the 2020 vote in similar results released after that election. Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate to the left of Ms. Harris, picked up 18 percent of the vote. But Mr. Trump’s support also jumped — to 42 percent of the vote from less than 30 percent four years ago, though turnout was lower.But in interviews throughout the campaign, Arab American and Muslim supporters said they were ready to take a chance on him anyway.Some were already aligned with the socially conservative views of the Republican Party. Many were nostalgic for the relative quiet of 2019.They also noted his efforts to campaign in Dearborn and the time spent in the area by his surrogates, especially Massad Boulos, a Lebanese American businessman and an in-law of Mr. Trump’s, and Richard Grenell, Mr. Trump’s former ambassador to Germany and acting intelligence chief.By contrast, they said, they saw Ms. Harris as inaccessible to the community.

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 @ISIDEWITH submitted…24hrs24H

Supreme Court Clears The Way For Trump Sentencing

Donald Trump will face sentencing over his New York “hush money” conviction on Friday, after the US Supreme Court declined to grant him a last-minute reprieve.The decision will force the president-elect to face public proceedings in the criminal case that he has fought strenuously to avoid. His lawyers had appealed to the high court on Wednesday to postpone the proceeding, claiming that allowing it to go ahead days before his inauguration would create a “constitutionally intolerable risk of disruption to national security” and interfere with his efforts to get his 34 felony convictions overturned.In a 5-4 decision handed down just hours before the sentencing was set to go ahead in a state court in lower Manhattan, a majority of the justices declined to do so, saying “the burden that sentencing will impose on the president-elect’s responsibilities is relatively insubstantial” especially as Trump was unlikely to face any prison time. They added that any issues with the evidence presented at trial — some of which Trump’s lawyers have claimed was inadmissible — “can be addressed in the ordinary course on appeal”.Trump-appointed Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined Chief Justice John Roberts and the three liberals on the bench in refusing to grant Trump’s appeal.Trump said in a post on Truth Social that he appreciated the Supreme Court’s time but vowed to continue fighting the case. “For the sake and sanctity of the Presidency, I will be appealing this case, and am confident that JUSTICE WILL PREVAIL,” he said.Lawyers representing Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Trump’s sentencing was repeatedly postponed while he mounted his third campaign for the White House and pursued various appeals against his conviction. Last week Judge Juan Merchan, who oversaw the “hush money” trial in New York earlier this year, finally set a firm date, in order to bring what he called “finality to this matter”.Trump will probably not face any punishment when he is sentenced, however, as the judge previously indicated he would not impose a fine or condemn Trump to prison time.

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 @ISIDEWITH submitted…8hrs8H

Trump Gets No Jail Time for Felony

Donald Trump was not punished for his criminal conviction in the Manhattan hush money case, bringing a lackluster end to the legal saga that will make him the country’s first felon-turned-president.At a sentencing hearing on Friday, a New York judge declined to sentence the president-elect to prison time or impose fines after a jury found him guilty of 34 felony counts of business fraud in connection with a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels in the final days of the 2016 presidential election.“This court has determined that the only lawful sentence that permits entry of judgment of conviction without encroachment on the highest office of the land is a sentence of unconditional discharge,” Justice Juan Merchan told Trump.While acknowledging the “extraordinary legal protections” Trump is set to enjoy as president, Merchan emphasized that “they do not reduce the seriousness of the crime or justify its commission in any way.”Friday’s sentencing, however inconsequential in terms of punishment, caps a remarkable chapter in Trump’s tangles with the justice system. At one point battling four simultaneous criminal indictments, he emerged with a single conviction last May that didn’t obstruct his path to reelection and will likely linger as little more than a stigma.Though Trump’s felony conviction allowed Justice Juan Merchan to send Trump to prison for up to four years or impose other penalties, the judge said in court papers prior to the sentencing that he wouldn’t do so, writing that incarceration was not “practicable” given Trump’s imminent return to the White House.Instead, Merchan imposed the sentence of “unconditional discharge” on Trump, which carries no punishment. The president-elect appeared virtually from Florida, his image presented via a video feed on large monitors in the Manhattan courtroom as the judge announced his decision. Prosecutors from the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, as well as Bragg himself, attended in person.

▲  1815 replies1 agree