Peacebuilding and Conflict Transformation Terminology

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J

Justice

Is the concept of moral rightness based on ethics, rationality, law, natural law, religion, fairness, or equity along with the punishment of the breach of the said ethics.

Understandings of justice differ in different countries, due to cultural differences, shared history and mythology, religion, and political system.

Distributive Justice: Refers to the extent to which society's institutions ensure that benefits and burdens are distributed among society's members in ways that are fair and just or equitable.

Restorative justice: Is a way of responding to criminal behavior by balancing the needs of the community, the victims, and the offenders. Restorative justice refers to a process for resolving crime by focusing on redressing the harm done to the victims, holding offenders accountable for their actions, and, often also, engaging the community in the resolution of that conflict.

Retributive Justice: Retributive justice refers to the extent to which punishments are fair and just. In general, punishments are held to be just to the extent that they take into account relevant criteria such as the seriousness of the crime and the intent of the criminal, and discount irrelevant criteria such as race. Retributive justice is backward-looking. Punishment is warranted as a response to a past event of injustice or wrongdoing.

Keyword(s):

Justpeace

1: an adaptive process-structure of human relationships characterized by high justice and low violence 2: an infrastructure of organization or governance that responds to human conflict through nonviolent means as first and last resorts 3: a view of systems as responsive to the permanency and interdependence of relationships and change.

Lederach, J. P. (1999). The Challenge of the 21st Century. In European Centre for Conflict Prevention, From People Building Peace: 35 Inspiring Stories from Around the World (pp. 27-36). European Centre for Conflict Prevention.