Retribution

• Retributive criminal justice is also called the "just deserts" theory of justice because it presumes that the person who committed a crime deserves to be punished. Utilitarian philosopher Immanuel Kant suggested that retribution was the appropriate way to undo the wrongful benefit that a criminal gained by committing a crime. Retribution looks back at what the criminal has gained and seeks to take it away to bring the scales of justice back to level.
  
  

Restoration

• Restorative criminal justice seeks to balance the scales of justice by bringing crime victims back up to where they were before the crime was committed. Restorative justice programs often use alternative sentencing options to encourage the defendant to work towards repaying the victim through monetary restitution or by engaging in service, such as painting over a vandalized wall.
  
  

Rehabilitation

• Rehabilitative criminal justice seeks to ensure that a person who committed a crime develops into a healthy, productive member of society. Rehabilitation efforts may include drug and alcohol treatment, mental health counseling, education and life-skills training.
  
  

Community Justice

• Community justice is an approach to criminal justice that emphasizes the community as a whole. Community justice starts with community policing, which reflects local standards and expectations. Applied to persons who have committed crimes, community justice may include aspects of restorative and rehabilitative justice, but it also requires repayment to the local community as a whole, such as through acts of community service.
  
  

Divine Justice

• Divine justice is the theory that the Diety is absolutely fair and just, and that the authority to judge and punish people resides in the Diety. Some cultures apply Deity-inspired principles in their criminal justice systems. For example, Shari'ah law is utilized in some Islamic countries, applying rules regarding crimes and punishments that were prescribed in the holy texts of that religion. American governmental legal systems do not apply a divine justice theory of criminal justice.
  
  

Libertarian

• The libertarian theory of criminal justice is not in practice in the U.S. or in any other country. Libertarian criminal justice emphasizes the first step of the criminal justice system, that of defining crimes, and would decriminalize most drug and other victimless crimes. Although libertarian philosophy would maintain retributive justice for the most violent offenders, libertarian criminal justice would convert most property crimes to civil matters, allowing the victims to sue for appropriate restoration in payment for damage done.