CMV: The Jacob Geller response shows that no one really believes in restorative justice.

[u/Raspint]

TlDr: Restorative justice advocates only believe in restorative justice until it relates to an issue they feel an emotional connection with. Then they are as bloodthirsty as any retributionist.

I'm going to preface this by saying that I do not believe in or support restorative justice. I'm pro-retribution and I have been for a long time. But I am going to try and take the perspective of a restorative justice [I'll call it rest-just for the rest of this post.] And the response that I've seen from people who are normally pro rest-justice has been things like:

From what I've seen majority of people who are typically pro rest justice has been that Geller should be outcast and isolated, and that he be forever marked with 'I'm a rapist.'

But like, that's not rest-justice. What's the whole point of rest-justice? Anytime you talk with their advocates the core of their philosophy is, ultimately "how can we make sure this never happens again?"

Well, it never happened again.

Unless I'm mistaken, what we know is this:

Geller raped someone.

Geller owned up to this and acknowledged it as rape.

Geller faced consequences most of us (me included) consider too light.

Geller never raped anyone again.

Like, despite what you or I think of being suspended as a punishment for rape, whatever else occurred (and we don't know the details of what the victim said or wanted) this worked. You may not like it, but unless I'm mistaken about this, the slap on the wrist (and whatever else may have happened) made it so Geller understood his transgression, and never did it again. Not only that, but he's supported anti-sexual violence organizations and charities, right?

This honestly sounds like a success case for rest-justice. And I feel in my heart of hearts that if Geller had of committed an act of non-sexual violence, then this is how it would be talked about. Most of the people who want him completely deplatformed would be saying "we need to allow for rehabilitation. Offenders are not subhuman monsters, we should not dehumanize them. We can be better than that."

Yet it's not because apparently rest-justice doesn't matter for crimes that we consider 'bad.' Therefore it's useless idea that most people only pretend to support.

[u/NoWin3930]

So what restorative justice took place? It is not clear from the post

[u/xfearthehiddenx → u/NoWin3930]

I'm confused by this too. I understand restorative justice as the punishment of the perpetrator being part of restoring the victim to whole, or as close to it as possible. Restorative justice would be paying for a car you damaged, scrubbing the graffiti off of a wall you tagged, etc. I'm generally for this kind of punishment for lesser crimes, where restoring the victim to whole can eliminate the hardship from the crime.

OP seems to be referring to rehabilitative justice. The process by which the perpetrator is given a sentence and punishment meant to help them eventually return as a productive member of society. Something I also believe in for, probably most crimes, actually.

I wonder if OP is confusing the two.

[u/stinkypenguinbukkake → u/NoWin3930]

he was suspended from his college for one semester afaik

[u/Raspint → u/NoWin3930]

Whatever happened resulted in him never raping again.

[u/andrea_lives → u/Raspint]

How do you know for certain he hasn't? Because he said so? Vibes? You have been personally surveilling him 24/7 since the incident?

You talk as if you know all this for certain that he never did that again. How are you so sure?

[u/Raspint → u/andrea_lives]

How do you know for certain he hasn't?

I don't know for certain you haven't. I'm not going to act as if you have.