Is Restorative Justice Possible in the United States?

America is regarded as a guide for many aspects of society. One major area that we, as a country, have failed at is our prison system. Not only does America bear the title of having the highest incarceration rate in the world, but we also have a recidivism rate that demonstrates the ineffectiveness of our system. Recidivism refers to the reincarceration of a criminal. Our current ideology surrounding the purpose of prison is to punish someone for an act they have committed against society and themselves. Other countries have a vastly different philosophy regarding the purpose of prison, more commonly known as “restorative justice”. Norway is the proud owner of the title of having the lowest recidivism rate in the world. A staggering 20% of criminals are reincarcerated after five years compared to the United States rate of 76.6%. Their prison system follows a strictly restorative justice model, so rather than punish the offender they try to repair the damage caused by the crime. More importantly, they provide rehabilitation to the prisoners rather than punishment. The aim of this paper is to compare the justice systems of the United States and of Norway, and to see if implementing Norway\u27s justice system in America would help reduce America\u27s recidivism rate