Restorative Justice III

Many school systems use Restorative Justice to resolve violence between students. Unless it is pretty serious, a playground fight or shoving match has no place in a courtroom. It is still something that cannot just be ignored. Schools have to have a more constructive way of dealing with such acts than just sending kids home for a few days. Bad feelings and unaddressed anger will only become worse when ignored leading to more violence and possibly more dangerous violence. After an incident such as a fight has occurred often both parties are punished in a way that does not relate to what happened. There is no reconciliation or addressing underlying factors that lead to the fight in the first place. Instead of sending students home using Restorative Justice can result in reconciliation and a better outcome. It does not have to be adult driven. Other students can act as mediators with a little training. Young people can learn how to resolve differences through peer counseling instead of using fists (or worse). They can work out how to restore what was lost in a fight such as face. Having students take care of the mediation can teach a lot about how to resolve differences later in life.  Anther area where Restorative Justice can be very effective is juvenile crime. 

            The juvenile justice system in the US is also over stretched and many question it’s effectiveness. Juveniles who commit crimes and wind up in court benefit little from a system based on punishment alone. Often, it makes the situation worse. According to the University Of Minnesota Balanced and Restorative Just Project (1997) with no connection to the crime, punishment seemingly unrelated to the crime will only further isolate the individual from community and family when they need it most. What is more likely to happen is the individual will come out even more likely to commit more and worse crimes when they are released back into the community. Under the current Juvenile Justice System, there is little to no input from victims of juvenile crime or the community in which they live. Restorative Justice can give a voice to those who would not otherwise be herd from. By getting a juvenile offender to sit down with their victim, they may come to see them more as a human being than an easy target for violence. Ideally, this will also help a juvenile to understand the consequences of their actions not just for themselves but others as well. This may make them think before committing other act of violence in the future. It will also let them know they are still a part of the community even though they have done something wrong. Restoring the damage done in an individual crime is much more meaningful than being sent away to a corrections facility or doing some other form of community service completely unrelated to what has happened. For example, if a teenager throws a brick through a neighbor’s window and is then made to pick up litter in another part of town there is no connection. If instead, he has to sit down with his neighbor and a mediator and work out a repayment for the window there will be a direct relationship. This form of justice used with juveniles has been shown to reduce crime in the future.

            Restorative Justice can be used in an adult setting as well and involve much more serious crimes. Prison inmates can meet those they have victimized. In serious crimes involving violence, the utmost care has to be taken not to revictimize someone who has already lived through an act of violence. All parties have to be willing partners working toward the same goal, repairing the damage. Restorative Justice in this setting can be much more meaningful for both the victim and the offender. Both can come to terms with what happened and be better able to move forward. Restorative Justice can be achieved even after the offender has served out a sentence. It is the sense of personal justice that helps bring about closure.                

            Despite some weaknesses Restorative Justice has a future in the over all justice system not only in the USA but world over. There are many situations using the court system is not a viable option, such as dealing with a fight at school or small property crime. In surveys both victims and offenders feel better about the outcome using Restorative Justice than a traditional trial. Both have an active role to play and are apart of the decision process. Community members effected by a crime indirectly even have a voice in how it is dealt with. The strongest point of Restorative Justice is it brings closure to an injury by getting an offender to take responsibility for his actions and be a part of the healing process afterward. All concerned can move on with their lives after all involved have had a say in what the resolution will be.     

References

1. Restorative Justice On Line www.restorativejustice.org Copyright 1996-2008
Copyright 1996 - 2008 Centre for Justice & Reconciliation

2.  Marshall, Tony F. Restorative Justice an Overview Crown Copyright 1999 
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs/occ-resjus.pdf

3. Bazemore, Gordon et al. Balanced and Restorative justice for Juveniles A Framework for Juvenile Justice in the 21st Century.  
http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles/framwork.pdf

Restorative Justice II

According to Restorative Justice: and Overview by Tony F. Marshall (1999), there is one major weakness to Restorative Justice. It is voluntary. If an offender does not take responsibility for a crime, there is little that can be done in a Restorative Justice setting. Also, if the victim does not want to participate, there is little that can be done.  For Restorative Justice to work several key elements have to come together. The offender has to take responsibility for his crime and the victim has to be willing to sit down with the offender (and a mediator) to work out an agreement to repair the damage that has been done. Another possible weakness is insincerity. If the offender is going through a Restorative process merely to avoid a harsher punishment, it is unlikely any real transformation will take place. The offender may feel he got off easier for his crime and have little to no reason to change the behavior. In some cases, it is completely inappropriate to bring an offender and victim together. In a case of extreme violence bringing the offender and victim together could cause even further harm to the victim by causing fear and stress. This is known as ‘revictimization”. While the current legal system is far from perfect, it does have built in safeguards to protect offenders’ rights such as presumption of innocence and right to professional legal counsel. In a restorative setting it is possible an accused offender may be coersed into participation for a number of reasons. He may feel he will not get a fair hearing and can do mediation to get a lighter punishment. Another potential flaw in Restorative Justice is a lack of professionalism. It is reasonable to assume the lawyer appointed to defend you in a case has well documented training and hopefully experience. In Restorative Justice there are few professional standards. A mediator can be someone with a great deal of professional training or a community leader with little professional training but who is well respected such as a pastor of the local church. Before accepting Restorative Justice it is important for both victims and offenders to accept and have trust in the mediator. With out professional standards to go by this must be done on a case by case basis. Who will be the right person for the job largely depends on setting and situation. It may not always be necessary for a person to have years of professional training to be a good mediator. Selecting the right mediator is a major factor in determining a successful outcome. Without professional standards, making the selection can be more difficult but by no mean impossible. However, even with these potential drawbacks, Restorative Justice shows a lot of promise as a way the offender, the victim and the community can strive for a more satisfactory justice system.

            Restorative Justice comes in many forms and can work in many different settings. Many Native American groups have been using Restorative Justice exclusively for all types of crimes involving not just the victim and offender but the whole community as well. Together, they decide how the offender will restore both the victim and the community. By no means is Restorative Justice an American phenomenon. Many different indigenous groups from all over the world have been using this concept. Within the last thirty or so years has western culture picked up on the idea and brought it into widespread use. There are many different applications of Restorative Justice. To get a sense of the different ways it can be used we will consider its application in schools, juvenile justice and with adult offenders.