Is Community Justice A Viable Alternative To Criminal Justice And Does It Contribute To The Local Business Economy?

Local communities are suffering extreme financial and economic hardships due to falling revenues and increased expenditures and therefore must seek alternate means to balance their budgets. A very large expenditure that must be borne by every community is the administration of the Criminal Justice System. As a result, many communities are trying to develop a more proactive approach to fighting crime by undertaking new and innovative approaches to solving their worsening crime problems and at the same time, substantially lower their costs. This new approach is called Community Justice. Criminal Justice is traditionally defined as The apprehension, conviction and punishment of offenders. Community Justice goes beyond these three tasks and uses three innovative approaches as a way to prevent crime before the Criminal Justice system comes into play with all of its associated costs, thereby saving valuable funds that can be used elsewhere. These three innovative approaches are Community Policing, Environmental Crime Prevention and Restorative Justice. In addition, Community Justice is based on a problem solving method utilizing neighborhood-based approaches for reducing crime and increasing public safety rather than the adversarial or retributive strategies used in the Criminal Justice system At the same time, Community Justice seeks to reduce the burden that the Criminal Justice System places on local areas through taxes. This paper will explore and review the differences between the two systems, the relevant research on both systems and the cost savings to be gained.