Restorative justice models in Rwandan criminal justice

The current Rwandan criminal justice takes root from civil law traditions and suffers a lot from the shortcomings of the retributive system. These shortcomings include prison overcrowding case backlogs victim neglect and limited rehabilitation opportunities and lack of social harmony as well. Restorative justice represents a new paradigm to respond to the problem of crime by encouraging reparation of the harm done accountability for offender and stakeholder inclusion. The research highlights legal institutional cultural and operational barriers that hinder the implementation of restorative justice in Rwanda. Those barriers range from restriction imposed on laws regulating mediation to an insufficient professional training and cultural norms on gender and reconciliation. Having recourse to international best practices in RJ practices the research proposes legislative reforms to expand the scope of mediation eligibility. The findings recommend the integration of RJ in complementarity with the current criminal justice system and this new paradigm will enhance victim-centered justice reduce incarceration and encourage social harmony in Rwanda.