Restorative justice is an approach to crime aimed at repairing the harm to victims and the community caused by a criminal act. It seeks to elevate the role of crime victims and community members, hold offenders directly accountable to the people they have violated, and restore, to the extent possible, the emotional and material losses of victims by providing a range of opportunities for dialogue, negotiation, and problem solving. It offers an alternative to contemporary justice systems that are offender driven, that are focused primarily on violations of the law and punitive action, and that regard actual crime victims as subsidiary to the justice process.
Although the restorative justice movement is relatively young, its acceptance and promotion are underscored by the fact that the United Nations has adopted a set of principles that encourage use of restorative justice programming by member states. In addition, the Council of Europe supports its use in criminal matters, and the American Bar Association promotes the use of victim offender mediation (VOM)—which is the oldest, most widely used, and empirically grounded form of restorative justice—in courts throughout the United States. Restorative justice initiatives have been developed in many parts of the world including, among others, Australia, New Zealand, European countries, South Africa, and Japan. Close to 30 states in the United States have restorative justice principles in their mission statements or policy plans.
Roots Of Restorative Justice
The values, principles, and practices of restorative justice are found in numerous Indigenous cultures throughout the world. Among these are Native American tribes within the United States, the Aboriginal/First Nation people of Canada, and the Maori in New Zealand, whose beliefs hold that we are part of a single whole and are interconnected through relationships. Crime violates the interdependent nature of human existence. In addition, the values of restorative justice are rooted in the ancient principles of Judeo-Christian culture that has always emphasized that the harm caused by crime creates a breach in the relationships between people and between the community and God. Restorative justice is also informed by both the penal abolition movement, which questions the use of punishment as a legitimate response to harm, and alternative dispute resolution processes that seek alternative approaches to the adversarial model and use of the court system.
Restorative Justice Dialogue
Restorative justice dialogue is the most widely used form of restorative justice. It involves all stakeholders to the extent possible in a voluntary and structured process of face-to-face dialogue to share stories of their experience of the offense, identify their needs, and agree upon a set of actions that may foster healing and make things right. In some instances, indirect dialogue involving a shuttle diplomacy may be implemented. Where one party is unwilling to participate, dialogue with a surrogate or panel may be substituted. Primary stakeholders include the immediate victim and offender and members of the community who are directly affected. The state and its legal system also have an interest as stakeholder, but are more removed from direct impact.
Restorative Justice Approaches
The three most common restorative justice modalities are VOM, family group conferencing (FGC) and peacemaking circles. VOM usually involves a victim and offender in direct mediation facilitated by one or sometimes two facilitators. Support persons such as parents or friends of the victim and/or offender are often present as well. FGC routinely involves support persons for the victim and offender as well as additional participants from the community. Peacemaking circles include even wider community member participation, either as interested persons or as additional circle-keepers or facilitators. The circle process involves the use of a “talking piece” that is passed around the circle to designate who may speak. In addition to these three modalities, there are other programs such as reparative boards with citizen representation or other community-based programs that invite the victim and offender to participate together in determining an appropriate response to the offense. Increasingly over time distinctions across these approaches have begun to blur. Many VOM programs, for example, routinely include support persons and occasional community members affected by the crime. The three approaches follow a broadly shared process that includes three stages: preparation, meeting, and follow-up. The amount of time required, who is involved, and emphasis devoted to these stages, however, varies considerably within and across these approaches, reflecting differences in philosophy and goals.
Restorative justice dialogue programs are offered by the justice system; private, not-for-profit community-based agencies; and churches or church-related agencies and may be used to address crime at different points of prevention, diversion, incarceration, and reentry. VOM programs for juvenile offenders in the United States, for example, are likely to occur after an offender has been apprehended but prior to any formal finding of guilt or at postadjudication and before disposition of the case occurs. The vast majority of these programs are for minor crimes—for example, property crimes, simple assault, and burglary. VOM programs for violent and serious crime—for example, homicide, aggravated assault, and rape—are also called Victim-Offender Mediated Dialogue or Victim Offender Dialogue and more frequently occur during postsentence incarceration.
Research On Effectiveness
Studies show that victims participate in restorative justice dialogues to help the offender, hear why the offender committed the crime, and communicate to the offender the impact of the crime and to work toward the offender not recidivating. Although the desire for restitution may have been an initial motivator, victims report what is most important is the opportunity to talk to the offender. Offenders participate to pay back the victim, get the experience behind them, impress the court, or to apologize to the victim. Surveys indicate that participant satisfaction is consistently high or fairly high for both victims and offenders who participate in VOM, FGC, and peacekeeping circles. Moreover, youth who participate in VOM recidivate at approximately a 32% lower rate than non-VOM participating youth, and when they do reoffend, they tend to commit less serious offenses than youth who did not participate in VOM.
The Future Of Restorative Justice
Restorative justice is expanding its reach to consider the use of dialogue in severe political violence and/or national healing, domestic violence, sexual abuse, and hate crimes as well as the use of surrogate victims for in-prison programs or surrogate offenders when dialogue with the actual offender is not possible. Its goal is to provide an opportunity to build a more accountable, understandable, and healing system of justice and law that can lead to a sense of community through active victim and citizen participation in restorative initiatives.
Bibliography:
- Armour, M. P., & Umbreit, M. S. (2007). Victim-offender mediation and forensic practice. In D. Springer & R. Roberts (Eds.), Handbook of forensic mental health with victims and offenders: Assessment, treatment, and research (pp. 519–539). New York: Springer.
- Umbreit, M. S., Vos, B., Coates, R. B., & Brown, K. (2003). Facing violence: The path of restorative justice & Monsey, NY: Criminal Justice Press.
- Zehr, H. (2002). The little book of restorative justice. Intercourse, PA: Good Books.
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