Will I be less punitive towards offenders who have restored some of the harm they caused? : Investigating Singaporeans' attitudes toward the inclusion of restorative processes in the criminal justice system

Abstract

Despite the numerous benefits of including restorative justice elements in Singapore’s criminal justice system, there has been an absence of research on Singaporean’s attitudes toward the restorative justice process. Hence, this study aims to investigate the extent to which Singaporeans would be receptive toward the inclusion of various restorative elements in the criminal justice process via measuring Singaporean’s punitive attitudes toward offenders in various criminal justice process scenarios. 204 Singaporean adults completed an online survey featuring a within-subjects experimental design with an online love scam vignette and various justice scenarios. This study found that Singaporeans were less punitive toward online love scam offenders who undergo some restorative justice elements than offenders who undergo a purely punitive justice process. Specifically, participants were less punitive towards offenders when (i) the victim was present in the restorative process, (ii) the offender committed to monetary compensation, and (iii) more elements of the restorative process were present. Nonetheless, across all criminal justice scenarios, participants continued to assign offenders imprisonment sentences. The current study’s findings indicated that Singaporeans were receptive towards a dual-track criminal justice model which includes both punitive and restorative justice elements. Future studies can analyse (i) the types of offences which the public would be open to including restorative justice elements and (ii) the underlying mechanisms which underlie Singaporeans’ receptiveness towards the inclusion of restorative justice process in the criminal justice system.