1). Introduction
This section should introduce the topic that you plan to research. You should detail the specific question you seek to answer (e.g. what is the nature of the relationship between CCTV installation and burglary reduction?) and set out a short list of clear aims and objectives.
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Zimbabwe has one of the most notorious crime statistic worldwide. With more than 75% of unemployed people in the country (Sunga, 1997), a variety of violent and nonviolent crimes became the only means of survival for many young citizens of Zimbabwe. Several international studies demonstrated that while walking in the daylight an average citizen of this country has 33% chances of being robbed, while at night the risk of being assaulted skyrockets to 70%. Despite multiple painstaking efforts of the local law enforcement authorities supported by the number of international grants, no feasible observable positive outcomes have been achieved insofar.
Although current economical situation in the country is gradually improving, the prospects of establishing the rule of law in Zimbabwe remain dismal. The presence of goods and the services has increased on 400% during the last decade, but the majority of the Zimbabwe population have no access to them (The Redress Trust, 2004). This factor is the main drive of the criminal activity throughout the country, especially in the areas where foreign expatriates reside. Another important facet which significantly increased the escalation of crime in the country was recent massive depredations of where Zimbabweans from the South African Republic. Having no viable job prospects in Zimbabwe, these people joined the crime forces of the country
In contrast to many other African countries debilitated by the proliferation of crime, the criminal communities in Zimbabwe are relatively organized (Johnstone, 2007). For instance, burglary gangs consist of at least five criminals, with the nominated leader, assigned responsibilities and duties. Any political attempts to take a crackdown on the organized crime in Zimbabwe, inevitably results in strong resistance (Morris & Maxwell, 2001). The situation is further aggravated by the endemic corruption of the country. International watchdogs report that in many cases, Zimbabwean police cooperate and coordinate their activities with the local gangs.
In the light of these severe economic and organizational problems of the Zimbabwean community, traditional methods of law enforcement activity provide no positive outcomes. Although the penal code of the country is one of the most rigorous in terms of applied punishment in the African countries (Umbreit & Peterson, 2011), the practice demonstrates that the rates of recidivism and other forms of post-incarceration crime has not reduced. Therefore, it is reasonable to conclude that the law enforcement authorities of the country should devise and employ new methods of crime reduction and prevention. International experience in developing countries suggests that diversion programs are one of the most effective solutions for the necessities of restorative justice.
The purpose of this paper is to provide the framework of identifying the perspectives of designing and introducing different diversion programs in the Zimbabwean criminal justice system. The prospective study will analyze whether the principles of restorative justice reflect the interests of the Zimbabwean society. Another important theme to be analyzed in the research, is the effectiveness of pretrial diversion methods for the needs of instituting the system of restorative justice in the developing countries in general, and in Zimbabwe in particular. The paper will discuss the existing methodologies of pretrial diversion programs, analyze their effectiveness and applicability in the country of Zimbabwe in the light of its geographical, demographic, political, economic and other relevant aspects.
This research proposal formulates research questions and objectives, provides a review of the methodological solutions, which will be used in researching and completing this project and gives a brief literature review on the topic. Key concepts, problems and international experience are all focused in this research proposal.
The concept of restorative justice and its mission are one of the most hotly debated aspects on the international criminal agenda. Different scholars speculated about the fact, that the principles of restorative justice are applicable for the developed countries only, while in the developing nations a normative approach should be followed by the policymakers to establish the rule of law. In the light of their discussions, and especially because of the growing criticism of the principles of restorative justice, the following research questions have been formulated for the needs of this project.
What should be understood under the principles of restorative justice?
What approaches towards understanding the concept of restorative justice exist, and which one is the soundest and academically substantiated?
Do the concepts of restorative justice reflect the necessities of the Zimbabwean community?
What should be understood under the concept of pretrial diversion programs? What types of programs exist nowadays?
Is there any available evidence, displaying the effectiveness of pretrial diversion programs in the developing countries?
What conditions should be observed in order to make this program effective? What are the requirements for implementing such programs in Zimbabwe?
What type of programs should be implemented in Zimbabwe?
Will these programs effective in the campaign of solidifying the principles of restorative justice in Zimbabwe?
Research objectives
In order to answer the questions mentioned above accurately and in full, the research team should accomplish the following objectives. Firstly, it is important to find out what the international and domestic scholarly community and the law enforcement practitioners understand under the concept of restorative justice. Any possible divergences and conceptual discrepancies should be identified and analyzed. In the long run, the opinions of the academicians and the practitioners should be made harmonious for more effective policymaking.
Secondly, it is important to understand whether pretrial diversion mechanisms are effective for the needs of instituting the system of restorative justice in the developing countries in general, and in Zimbabwe in particular. In this context, previous successful experience of the developing countries (e.g. the Republic of Barbados, the Dominican Republic and some other countries) should be carefully analyzed. Thirdly, the research team will try to analyze demographic, economic, political and other essential environments of Zimbabwe, and conclude whether effective pretrial diversion programs can be implemented there. Finally, the types of the pretrial programs, which may be implemented in Zimbabwe, will be analyzed and the most appropriate ones will be chosen for proposal.
2). Previous Research Findings
You should provide a clear and detailed discussion of research that has previously been conducted in this area. You should outline their methods and research design and consider their findings.
Occasionally, you may plan to conduct research into a topic where little previous research has been conducted. If this is the case, you may need to widen your research parameters and you will need to find comparable research in either a closely related topic, or where methods used match your own. Do not simply repeat methods and findings, but ensure that you discuss these.
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Crime and sentencing in Zimbabwe
The main authority responsible for combating crime, and developing policies aimed at its reduction in Zimbabwe is the Minister of Home Affairs (The Redress Trust 2004). Practically, the tasks of law enforcement are exercised by that Zimbabwe Republic Police in coordination with the Ministry of Justice.
Nowadays, it is reported that the majority of crimes are in Zimbabwe are of nonviolent nature, although a significant portion of the assaults involve firearms. The downtown areas of Harare is reported to be particularly vulnerable to the different armed assaults, especially because many foreigners reside in these areas. A typical mugging case involves a number of young males, who surround their victim (sometimes in the public areas) and demand his valuable possessions stop. The practice demonstrates that cellular phones are especially interesting to the local residents of Zimbabwe (Umbreit & Peterson, 2011).
As far as the effectiveness of the enforcement authorities is concerned, the practice shows that no more than 17% of the crime perpetrators are apprehended. 94% of them are males, 78% from this ratio are teenagers or young adults. Depending on the gravity of the crime, the judges in Zimbabwe sentence property criminals to short-term imprisonment (up to five years), fines (which are almost never paid, and subsequently changed to the short-term and incarceration). With regard to violent crimes (robbery, murder etc.) the delinquents are in 96% of the cases incarcerated for long-term period (The Redress Trust, 2004).
Current criminal legislation of Zimbabwe recognizes that the two fundamental tasks of its criminal justice system are a) correcting the offender, b) rehabilitating the offender, so that he is no longer a threat to the community and c) protecting the society, from the potential negative impact of such an offender by isolating him. Today, those sentenced to prison incarceration rarely attain the criteria of non-dangerous member of the community. To be more specific, the penitentiary institutions of Zimbabwe neither correct the offenders, nor prepare them for social integration to the Zimbabwean society. In fact, statistically 97% of those once incarcerated in the development penitentiary institutions, engage in criminal activities after their release (Van Ness, 2005). Several studies conducted in this regard straight it, that the motives, the methods and other elements of the crime remain the same. Therefore, current Zimbabwean penitentiary system fails to address the objectives the Zimbabwean criminal law and its constitutional principles. The reasons of this failure are the following:
1. Unacceptable treatment in the penitentiary institutions (UN Office on Drugs and Crime, 2006). Several surveys demonstrated that the treatment of the Zimbabwean inmates is not consistent with the international standards of criminal justice administration. In particular, it has been found out that the people jailed in Zimbabwean penitentiary units continuously suffer from pressure exercised by their mates and by the members of the staff (Yant, 2001; The Redress Trust, 2004). This pressure is various - from psychological intimidating and bullying, to severe beating, raping and torturing of the fellow. 85% of the Zimbabwean prison population experienced some form of conflict in prison, and 87% of this portion admitted that the prison administration was neither revealing, nor capable of resolving such issues.
2. Furthermore, a number of international watchdogs described sentences delivered by the Zimbabwean courts as disproportionate to the crimes committed( Sunga, 1997; American Bar Association, 2010). For instance, in some cases the minors have been sentenced to incarceration for first-time, petty thefts. In accordance with the well-established international standards of criminal justice administration, first-time property offenders driven by the motives of physiological necessity (in Zimbabwe the children commit crime to buy food or to satisfy other basic physiological necessities) usually receive suspended sentences or fines.
Several authoritative academicians confirmed the assumption that the overwhelming majority of criminal sentences adjudicated by the Zimbabwean course of law are disproportionate to the crimes committed (Marshall, 1999, The Redress Trust, 2004). Notably, the possibilities of appealing the decisions of courts are limited to the existence of Zimbabwe because of inadequate legal literacy, poorly functioning legal system and the high attorneys fees.
In the light of these issues, the rising possibility of pretrial diversion may become an advantageous option for the Zimbabwean community. Previous positive experience of Guatemala, Dominican Republic, Tunis and Egypt are exemplary illustrations of successfulness of this method of crime reduction in the light of the egregious problems in the criminal justice sector and limited resources available for its improvement.
3).Relevant Theoretical Perspectives/Framework
You should explain the perspective(s) that you will use to develop a theoretical framework to research and understand the problem and why you consider them to be most appropriate. You need to try to ensure that your proposed research is grounded in theory which will help you to structure and plan the research (as this will affect the research design, including your method(s) and how you analyse your findings). Looking at the theories and/or models that previous researchers in your topic area have used can help you with this. Note also that it is not always possible to find a theory that exactly matches your research problem. Therefore, you may need to take a more overarching view and look for theories that are relevant to the overall/general research topic area, rather than the specific research problem
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The Concept Of Restorative Justice
Nowadays, the concept of restorative justice is understood as an approach to the legal system, which focuses on the necessities of the offenders and the victims, as well as on the associated interests of the community, instead of prioritizing abstract legal concepts or punishing the wrongdoer (Van Ness, 2005; Van Ness, 2007). To be more specific, the victims are encouraged to become proactive in the process of justice administration, whereas the offenders are encouraged to take responsibility for the actions they committed in order to repair the harm they have inflicted. Additionally, one of the most important objectives of restorative justice is to have the offender to avoid committing future delinquent actions. The main rationale behind the principles of restorative justice is the theory, which considers that crime is an offense against the community and the individual, rather than against the state power (Marshall, 1999).
One of the most popular forms of restorative justice administration's involves victim-offender mediation, which is a meeting in the presence of a trained specialist, who try to reconcile them victim and offender in order to avoid future trial.
Overall, the main purpose behind the creation of the system of restorative justice is not only to punish the offender, but to restitute the rights and interests of the victim, as well as to the offender , and 'persuade’ him that the crimes is neither profitable, nor socially acceptable behavioral pattern. In the light of today's criminal situation in Zimbabwe, and especially because of proliferating violent crime, establishing strong restorative system appears to be an effective option for the local law enforcement authorities. The situation is further aggravated by the limited resources and endemic corruption in the country, which make conventional methods of curbing crime ineffective.
Pretrial Diversion In Zimbabwean Context
Under the concept of a diversion program the practitioners typically understand the form of sentencing, administered by the law enforcement authorities with the objective to help the offenders to avoid criminal charges and subsequent criminal record (Sunga, 1997; Van Ness, 2005). The main purpose of diversion program is to provide organizational relief to the judicial authorities and law enforcement agencies, as well as to provide better outcomes compared to direct discretion of justice and, the four an opportunity for the offender to avoid being prosecuted. Typically, diversion programs include the following elements.
Firstly, the delinquents receive some form of professional or academic education, which can potentially prevent future offenses. The main rationale behind this approach is that one of the primary driving forces of criminal activity is unemployment. Providing potential criminals with some form of education significantly increases the chances of finding stable employment opportunities. Considering the fact that Zimbabwe has one of the highest unemployment rates in the world, this is likely to be productive.
Secondly, restitution (both, financial and nonfinancial) to the victims of crime is recognized as the second important element of diversion programs. In order to avoid charges, the delinquents should compensate people they assaulted in full. In the event such compensation is not possible on the immediate basis, restitution should be done on the expense of the state, with subsequent re-compensation by the offender.
Thirdly, the offenders should avoid situations for a specified period of time, which may potentially lead to perpetrating another crime. The most popular examples of such restraints include injunctive orders not to deal with certain people, not to appear in the certain areas or to occupy certain job positions.
At the same time, unsuccessful completion of the program should result in bringing back the involved penalties, or even making them more severe. The more specific, charges, which had been previously dismissed because of the diversion programs, will nevertheless result in additional criminal record points.
It is also important to highlight that diversion programs play an important role in improving situations with young offenders. To be more specific, the academicians consider that even the young people undergo some form of criminal incarceration, their criminal experience may do more harm than good. In the light of this fact, the majority of the programs designed to the juvenile delinquents are fundamentally different, from the ones, administered to the adult population. In particular, psychological and personal issues of the juvenile delinquents are taken to be into consideration in order to develop effective policies.
In Zimbabwe the administration of pretrial diversion programs seem to be effective because of the following reasons. Firstly, it will demonstrate to the Zimbabwean community that the state is willing to find dialogue with the community, which, constrained by severe economic hardships and, virtually, fight for survival resorted to crime. This approach will help the community to understand, that the state is taking proactive stance in the campaign of curbing crime, and opening new opportunities to the people. Moreover, in the event effective diversion programs are developed and implemented in Zimbabwe, the tarnished image of the country with the hugest human rights abuses in the penitentiary institutions will gradually fade.
On the basis of the issues mentioned above, development and implementation of the pretrial diversion programs should be considered as viable mechanisms of improving recidivism rates, and other associated problems in the Zimbabwean community.
4). Research Methodology
You should outline at least two different types of research design that could be used for your proposed research. Each design should be feasible and it should be clear to the reader how the methods outlined in each design will enable you to achieve your overall research aim(s)There are often a number of different approaches that could be used to meet the overall aims and objectives of a research project so please consider the different ways in which you could research your chosen topic.
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Taking into account the multifaceted nature of this research, the research team will follow a combined methodology (Ragin, 1994). Firstly, both primary and secondary methods of data collection will be applied. To be more specific, in order to obtain the data about economical, political, demographic, geographic and other aspects relating to Zimbabwe, and the possibilities of implementing pre-trial diversion programs there, the opinions of them leading law enforcement authorities, think tanks, academicians and politicians will be analysed. Some of them will be approached and asked for interview either in a live format, or by means of replying to the electronically submitted questionnaires. Opinions of the others will be sought in the leading national and international periodicals, magazines, electronic magazines, academic journals etc.
Conceptual framework regarding restorative justice and pre-trial diversion programs will be obtained from the books, covering previous positive experience of the developing countries in this regard, and from the reports published by the international watchdogs and nongovernmental organizations. Primarily, the research team will rely on the findings collected by the Amnesty International, Reporters Without Frontiers, and some others.
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In order to support the arguments of this research, quantitative findings will be collected. In particular, the national statistics from the enforcement authorities of other developing nations, where pre-trial diversion mechanisms have already been implemented, will be taken into consideration. Other relevant statistical data will be accessed from the web based databases, including ProQuest, LEXIS-NEXIS and some others.
Please enter Design 3 in below text box(optional)
Please present your case for, and against, using each of these designs (supported by reference to the literature) in the below text box.*
Please identify your preferred choice from the above possible designs, discuss your reasons for this and outline in detail the method(s) chosen in the below text box.*
You should outline the methods you propose to use (e.g. documentary evidence, questionnaires, interviews) and why you consider them to be most suitable for gathering the necessary information to address your research problem. Do ensure that you provide sufficient information and justification for your methods in this section regarding sampling, access, validity and reliability, and participant numbers, for example. It is vitally important that you make use of the extensive social science research methodology literature to explain the various methods available and to justify your choice. Not providing supporting references for this literature is likely to lead to you failing this assignment.
Instead of following one specific research design, I will use a combined approach, applying specific research method for specific needs. The application of this combined methodology will help to answer the research questions, and accomplish the research object is accurately, timely and effectively. Several studies of similar nature utilizing these mixed research solutions have been successfully conducted and published in the USA (Ragin, 1994; Fischer, 2005); therefore, this strategy is expected to be helpful for this project as well.
5). Research Ethics
Please outline the ethical issues associated with your proposed research and what actions could be taken to address these. Ethics are an important consideration in research design and you should ensure that you have given sufficient thought to ethical issues. There are likely to be ethical issues relating to any type of primary research involving people, and also with certain types of documentary research. Again, ensure that you support this section with referenced evidence from the social research literature.
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In completing this research, the team will respect the following ethical principles:
Research Integrity – we guarantee that all our findings will be accurate and genuine. No forms of data manipulation, fabrication or other academic mistreatment will be practiced in the course of this research.
Confidentiality -once we collect specific case studies of crime in Zimbabwe, we shall not disclose names or other personal particulars of the participants because of privacy concerns. Those law enforcement officials, who agreed to cooperate with us on anonymous basis, will not be mentioned by their real names as well.
Objectivity – we try to present our findings in an unbiased manner, avoid all forms of political favouritism and self-deception.
Voluntary Basis – the research team will receive explicit consents from all research participants. Before any information is obtained from a specific participant, he will be informed that it will be used for this research.
Respect of Intellectual Property – the ideas of others, even if they were not academically published will be credited in a due manner.
6). Anticipated Problems
You should be able to anticipate problems in conducting your research and also be able to offer solutions as to ways of overcoming them (e.g. how to gain access to an appropriate sample).
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The main limitations of this research include inaccuracy of the data and potential inability of the research team to access specific data sources. To be more specific, in the course of this research, we intend to approach several governmental officials of Zimbabwe. Although we try to encourage them by stating that their involvement will make an important contribution to the development of Zimbabwean legal system, the chances that the responses will be negative are real. In this case, alternative methods of data collection will be used.
As far as inaccuracy of the data is concerned, the statistics collected by Zimbabwean authorities does not always reflect the true state of events in Zimbabwe. Therefore, the audience should always consider the possibility of these research imperfections.
7). References
Please insert list of references in the below text box*
Morris A, Maxwell G, 2001. "Restorative conferencing", in Bazemore, G.; Schiff, M., Restorative community justice: Repairing harm and transforming communities, Cincinnati, OH: Anderson Publishing Co., p. 173–197
Umbreit M & Peterson A, 2011, Restorative Justice Dialogue–An Essential Guide for Research and Practice. New York: Springer Publishing Co.
Johnstone G, Van Ness, D.2007. Handbook of Restorative Justice. Devon, UK: Willan Publishing.
Sunga LS, 1997, The Emerging System of International Criminal Law: Developments in Codification and Implementation. Kluwer Law International. The Hague, The Netherlands.
Yant, M. 1991. Presumed guilty: when innocent people are wrongly convicted. Buffalo, N.Y: Prometheus Books.
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. 2006. Custodial and Non-Custodial Measures Alternatives to Incarceration
The Redress Trust. 2004. Zimbabwe: From Impunity to Accountability Are Reparations Possible For Victims Of Gross And Systematic Human Rights Violations. Retrieved from: http://www.redress.org/downloads/publications/Beyond%20impunityA5.pdf
Daniel W. Van Ness. 2005. An overview of restorative justice around the world. Workshop 2: Enhancing Criminal Justice Reform, Including Restorative Justice United Nations 11th Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice. Bangkok
Marshall, TF, 1999, Restorative justice: An overview. Home Office. Research Development and Statistics Directorate. London, UK.
American Bar Association, 2010, Handbook of International Standards On Pretrial Detention Procedure
Ragin, C. (1994). Constructing social research : the unity and diversity of method. Thousand Oaks, Calif: Pine Forge Press.
Fischer, C. (2005). Qualitative research methods for psychologists : introduction to empirical studies. Amsterdam Boston, MA: Elsevier Academic Press.
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