Contemporary concept of restorative justice emerged at the end of 1960s and
the beginning of 1970s, at the time when repression and social exclusion
stared to show their lacks. Restorative justice has emerged on the critics of
the conventional criminal justice response to crime, which denies the power
to both the victim and the offender, and particularly neglecting a victim and
minimizing his/her role in the procedure. While the accent of the repressive
discourse is on the crime and punishment, restorative discourse is focused on
the relationship between parities involved in a criminal case, who should
actively participate in the process of finding out adequate solution of the
problem arose from the criminal offence. Keeping that in mind, it is quite
obvious that theoretical knowledge, concepts and movements that are focused
on victims, their rights, legal and overall position had the strongest impact
on the development of restorative justice. Taking that as a departure point,
the impact of the ?conflict as property? concept, victimology, movement for
the restitution, movement for victim?s rights, and feminist movement, on the
development of a contemporary concept of restorative justice is analyzed in
this paper, and vice versa.
Role of Victim in the Criminal Justice System
