Can Forgiveness Play a role in Criminal Justice?

“Restorative justice” considers harm done and strives for agreement from all concerned — the victims, the offender and the community — on making amends. I feel that restorative justice is a good alternative to the traditional criminal justice system when less serious crimes are being dealt with. Whereas the case of 19 year old Connor McBride shooting and killing his girlfriend Ann Grosmaire is a much more serious offense. I found it shocking that the parents of the girlfriend agreed to restorative justice and wanted to shorten Connor's sentence.The parents must be unbelievably kind and forgiving if they agreed to this process. I would never be able to do something like that. I definitely think the process of restorative justice is closely in line with Catholic Social Teaching because it is more forgiving and less punishing than the traditional criminal justice system.