Nakisha Jack
Professor M. Bennett
English 1301
26 February 2019
Restorative Justice: The Restoration of Faith by Amitava Kumar
Restorative justice is a very uncommon practice in the court room. In this process everyone who is directly affected in this crime can all optionally participate. The reasoning behind this is because restorative justice concerns the perpetrator essentially making amends with the victim and their family. The first step in making amends is for the suspect of the crime to take full responsibility for his actions and the people he has harmed. Restorative justice’s main goal is to rectify the harm caused by the crime. In the article “The Restoration of Faith”, Amitava Kumar informed the reader of a case where restorative justice was practiced. His purpose primarily serves to raise important questions about the ideas that have been put into the heads of our society involving crime and punishment and to inform the reader about the incident and leave them thinking of when restorative justice is appropriate.
Kumar opens the article with a brief story of how a young man named Conor McBride shot and killed his girlfriend Ann Grosmaire. By opening the article with the story of the crime itself, Kumar creates a tone that appeals to a sense of hope in humanity. Kumar used pathos as his main source of appealing to the audience in many ways. He included in great detail how Connor described killing his girlfriend, Ann. “Ann was on her knees, her hand raised to stop him, when he fired” (74). This quote paints the picture in your head of what occurred that night. It really shows that Ann wanted to live by putting her hand up to stop him. Kumar uses the strategy of painting the picture in your head of what had happened, as one of his strengths in his emotional appeal. Kumar uses a very descriptive tone to appeal to the audience’s emotions. The tone throughout the article changes from being mad at Conor to feeling sorry for him. He does this by describing the parent’s reactions to hearing how he killed Ann, which was very painful for them. Even after all that, Ann’s parents didn’t want Conor to spend life in prison. “The Grosmaires said that they didn’t forgive Conor for his sake, but their own” (74). Ann’s mother also expressed how “Forgiveness for me was self-preservation” (74). Kumar included these quotes to really make his emotional appeal as impactful as it can be. By doing so, he demonstrated how forgiving the Grosmaires were considering the given circumstances.
Kumar then introduces Suja...
