and the concerns of society. This means that imprisonment should not be the first thought that comes to mind when an accused stand before the court. B. Rehabilitative and Restorative Justice Mr. Kalidas elaborated that restorative justice is a multi-faceted approach to crime. On the contrary to retrospective justice which is focused on punishing those who have committed a crime, restorative justice is geared towards the rehabilitation process that incorporates a strong human rights analysis that emphasises societal factors resulting in the crime. The interests of victims are often not considered or acknowledged fully under the traditional system of retributive justice. Restorative justice on the other hand, brings victims who have been harmed by a crime and the perpetrator into an effective communication by a trained facilitator who acts as a bridge between parties. Mr. Kalidas mentioned that a lot of people may find the idea as strange and foreign since the victim would surely not want to meet the perpetrator who had caused harm to them. However, Mr. Kalidas stated that restorative justice is a very different way of thinking about crime and how society responds to the crime. What it means is that it focuses on repairing the harm caused by the crime and therefore, reducing crimes in future. The victim will go through a recovering period when facing the perpetrator and the perpetrator will have the chance to confront the person harmed by him, leaving impact on his action and, at the same time it seeks to redress the victim giving him some form of emotional closure that would not exist in the criminal justice system that focuses on the punishment alone. The use of restorative justice can play a significant role in making prisons more effective at promoting rehabilitation. According to studies conducted by the Department of Justice, Canada, a restorative justice program is a more effective method of improving victim-offender satisfaction; increasing offender compliance with restitution; and decreasing the recidivism of offenders when compared to a more traditional criminal justice responses such as incarceration, probation, and court order restitution. This will in turn reduce reoffending and hopefully will provide offenders with an opportunity to be more reintegrated into society when they are released. Of course, it would be naive to think that all criminal and delinquent behaviour can be altered through restorative justice since there are many things to be done to address anti-social behaviour. C. Problems with the Punitive Criminal Justice System Mr. Kalidas mentioned that as a criminal law practitioner, the primary aspect of his job is tied together with the punitive or retributive criminal justice system. The goal of the system is to meet out punishment to those who have wronged someone else based on their actions. Certainly, those who have committed serious crimes like murder or rape must be tried and punished if they are found guilty. Proponents of the retributive criminal justice system are likely to argue that tougher sentencing will act as a deterrent to crime. However, retributive justice is a slippery 46