Articles Published on Criminal Justice

¶ … Articles Published on Criminal Justice and Restorative Justice Published between 1996 and 2006. As Nilsson et al., (2007) suggest, "scholarly discipline" or the exploration of scholarly investigation and techniques warrants examination and investigation in and of itself (p. 357). The purpose of this paper is to examine the content or peer reviewed articles published within a ten-year period, focusing on specific content areas, in this case the criminal justice system and its experiences with restorative justice.

Content analysis is helpful for offering insights into the "values" researchers have that drive investigation during any given period (Nilsson, et al., 2007:358). Thus, the researcher may identify gaps and trends in research during the specified period. The quantitative investigation allows for validity and reliability, providing the researcher the opportunity for statistical analysis that will provide direct insight into the proposed methods prescribed in the research, and offer clues that answer or establish a new hypothesis or theorem.

Purpose The purpose of this research is to review quantitative articles on the criminal justice system and restorative justice between the periods of 1996 to 2006 to establish whether restorative justice is or remains a reliable means of reform for young adults. This study aims to explore the population of criminals between the ages of 18 and 30.

Thus, the research questions are as follows: (1) Does examination of the literature provide substantial evidence that restorative justice is or is not an effective method of rehabilitation? (2) Are there other methods that prove equally effective for reforming the criminal justice system, and (3) Do trends in criminal justice suggest reform in justice measures are necessary in the current period? Hypothesis The author hypothesizes the following: Restorative justice is an effective tool for rehabilitating young criminals and reintroducing them into society and there community.

Secondary to this the researcher hypothesizes that young adults subject to the restorative justice system are more likely to realize positive outcomes and contribute to their communities, having less relapse or reconviction rates than criminals punished by other means. Strengths/Weaknesses This study will provide public insight as to the efficacy or inefficiency of the current criminal justice system, and offer plausible methods for improving the manner in which young adults are penalized and reformed.

The study is backed by comprehensive data spanning a decade's worth of research, considering current trends in criminal justice. It is impossible however in the allotted timeframe to adequately hypothesize whether the results of this study will remain valid for the next decade and for decades to come. For this reason it is important that continuous research be upheld to track future trends in justice and reassert the hypothesis or call for a need for new methods of rehabilitation amongst criminals of all ages.

The study is also limited to a small and defined population of individuals. It is possible the information gathered is not applicable to all criminals, including those that are repetitive criminals and those younger or older than those studied for purposes of this research. Methods Data Collections The types of data collected will include a series of journal articles investigating the efficacy or lack thereof of restorative justice programs among convicted criminals in the allotted time frame.

The validity and reliability of the research will be based on quantitative statistical analysis of the frequency distribution for independent and dependent variables. Weighted statistics are utilized to calculate a "nationally representative" model of restorative justice for the public's review (USFR, 2001:1). Results Method This section of the study describes the frequency distribution of the data collected during this study and idea of "central tendency, associated mean, median and mode." Various measures of dispersion are also reviewed, with an explanation of whether the research supports or disproves the hypotheses explored.

Variables - Independent and Dependent The data collected reflects the independent and dependent variables explored for purposes of this study. The independent variables explored include: sex and.