Restorative justice as an alternative criminal dispute resolution for the offence of theft
Under the traditional justice system, theft is an offence against a state. Once the offender is found guilty by the court, he will be punished accordingly. In Malaysia, the Penal Code provides punishment for an offence of theft with imprisonment for a term not exceeding 7 years, or fine or with bo...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
OCERINT International
2017
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://irep.iium.edu.my/59842/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/59842/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/59842/1/journal%201.pdf |
| Summary: | Under the traditional justice system, theft is an offence against a state. Once the offender is found guilty by
the court, he will be punished accordingly. In Malaysia, the Penal Code provides punishment for an offence
of theft with imprisonment for a term not exceeding 7 years, or fine or with both. The aim is to punish the
offender for the offence that he had committed, while the victim has no place in the process. However,
restorative justice sees a crime is against an individual which allows the offender to be direct accountability
against the victim. In other words, instead of punishing the offender for an offence done, the offender has to
repair the harm suffered by the victim such as by paying compensation or in case of theft restore the stolen
property to the victim. Islamic law has implemented restorative justice long time ago to allow certain criminal
cases to be resolved between the parties, provided that the case has not been reached to the authority.
Restorative justice has been recognized internationally by the United Nation, which encourages criminal
cases which are minor in nature, such as theft, vandalism, and hurt to be resolved through the restorative
justice process. As such, many countries have implemented restorative justice, such as the United Kingdom,
the United States, Australia and New Zealand. Restorative justice can be considered as an alternative to the
traditional justice system which allows the offender and the victim resolve criminal offence with the
assistance of a neutral third party out of court. For instance, in the offence of theft, instead of punishing the
offender, the case can be resolved if the offender agrees to seek forgiveness and returns the stolen item or
pays compensation to the victim, and the victim agrees to reintegrate the accused into the society. Thus, this
research aims to examine the law of Malaysia that governs the offence and the punishment of theft. This
research also analyses how restorative justice is implemented under the United Nation and Islamic law. It is
suggested that the Malaysian law that governs the offence of theft to be improvised so that the parties may
opt to resolve criminal cases through restorative justice |
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