RESTORATIVE JUSTICE

This is a community-based approach to dealing with crime, the effects of crime and the prevention of crime.  A restorative justice process operates from a belief that the path to justice lies in compassionate listening, equity of voice, taking responsibility and making amends, rather than in punitive consequences.

Foundational Principles, Beliefs, Goals and Benefits of Restorative Justice 

THE PRINCIPLES say that when a person commits a crime:

• This is an act against people, relationships and an act against the community.
• By committing the crime, the person creates an obligation to the victim, and the community.
•  When the person offending meets that obligation, they are taking responsibility for their actions, and beginning to understand and value their relationship with other people in their community.

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THE BELIEFS are that justice should, to the greatest degree possible, do five things:

• Invite full participation of all parties affected by a crime and allow each voice to be heard.
• Focus on harms done, not on laws broken.
• Seek full and direct accountability from those who caused the harm, help victims recover in concrete and meaningful ways what was lost, and repair what was damaged.
• After reparation and restitution, reintegrate the parties back into the community.
• Strengthen the community to own its responsibility for causes that lead to crime, thereby preventing future harm.

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THE GOALS of restorative justice practices require that:

• The person victimized is involved in the process and comes out of it satisfied.
• The person who offended understands how their action has affected other people and takes responsibility for those effects.
• A plan of action helps to repair the harms done and to address the reasons for the offense; specific plans are tailored to the person victimized and the person who offended.
• Both the victim and the person who offended gain a sense of closure and both are reintegrated into the community.

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THE BENEFITS of restorative justice include:

• Reduction of recitivism.
• Keeping youth and adults as productive community members and out of prison.
• Reducing the costs of the justice system.
• Providing meaningful justice while repairing the harms to victims, community members and those who have offended.