Crime Prevention Strategies: Restorative Justice as an Alternative to Traditional Deterrence and Criminal Justice

Reducing crime is one of the most important issues that policy-makers have always been concerned about. Reintegrative shaming theory which emphasizes on criminals' reintegration, refers to the role of social and cultural relations in provoking a sense of shame and has been applied in the eastern communities such as Japan and China and it has the potential to be used in countries such as Iran, the cultural characteristics of which is having a more or less community-based society. Despite the appropriateness of the theory to the cultural characteristics of Iranian society and the necessity of applying it, the scope of internal studies in this field is very limited. Therefore, the present study has used the library and documentary method of international studies and has elaborated their concepts and implications. By using this theory and stating that the prevention of crime and its control depend on cultural characteristics and the quality of interactions, the present article intends to investigate the mentioned theory and depicts the application of its different policy implications in preventing university students’ deviant behavior by examining and presenting the good practices of its implementation throughout the world. Furthermore, it aims to demonstrate the efficiency of the policy implications of the aforementioned theory to create a cornerstone to replace actions made by the criminal justice system with it. According to the results, this theory provides implications for substituting punitive measures of judicial system. Restorative justice has been identified as an appropriate alternative to traditional deterrence. This implication focuses on the process in which offenders accept and repair the harm, blocks the way to recidivism, and reduces crime rates by reintegration of the offenders in a larger society and supporting them.