INCULCATING SENSE OF RESPONSIBILITY THROUGH RESTORATIVE JUSTICE FOR CHILD OFFENDE IN MALAYSIA

Abstract

The concept of restorative justice is a legal measure promoted as an alternative to the child justice system. The international law instruments such as the Beijing Rule and the Convention on the Rights of Child has highlighted on the alternative of restorative justice to protect well being and development of the child. This concept is already well developed in the New Zealand, Australia and United Kingdom. Although the model can be taken from those countries, but Malaysia has yet to take a progressive step towards having a proper framework for restorative justice in child justice system. Therefore, this article aims to highlight on the advantages of the restorative justice in inculcating the sense of responsibility among the stakeholder who directly affected by the offences committed by children and to promote the restorative justice as a holistic measure to sustainably develop the child mentally and emotionally. The methodology applied for this paper is legal research methodology which focuses on the examination of the legal provisions and exploration to the legal text written by legal authors. This paper finds that the restorative justice plays a vital role in inculcating the sense of responsibility among child offender and it shall be independently practiced in Malaysian child justice system.