Restorative Justice: A Healing Solution

In 1999, when California held its first statewide conference on restorative justice, the concept was relatively new. Restorative justice, however, likely existed long before the twenty-first century-although it probably wasn't known by that name then-when communities were small and families knew each other and knew they would continue to live as neighbors for a long time, during a time when people got together to solve problems within their neighborhoods without contacting a lawyer and taking each other to court. In today's society, where a penchant for filing lawsuits co-exists with a legal system that often rewards winning over making things right, restorative justice, surprisingly-or maybe not surprisingly-is finding growing support.

Restorative justice is a concept that is more often used in juvenile justice matters than others. At its heart are some commonsense principles, which can be more or less detailed, depending on the organization or community defining them. No matter, the heart of the message is simple and likely more comprehensible than the legalese spewed by lawyers in court. The message involves the following elements:

ß Crime hurts a community and the human relationships within that community.

ß Crime cannot be controlled without the active and widespread involvement of the community.

ß The victims of the crime have a crucial role in deciding how to repair the harm caused by the offender and the crime.

ß Restoring the community and repairing the relationships in the community are essential.

ß The offender has an important role in restoring that balance and has a personal responsibility to the victims and the community for the crimes he or she has committed.

For example, a driver hits and kills a child crossing a street. Parents have lost a child; siblings have lost one of their own; the community has lost a member who was a student in a class of peers, a friend to other children, a member of a church, a neighbor, perhaps a member of a sports team. The killer may be a youth, with parents and siblings as well, an employee, a student, a friend. Besides creating a void in the child's family, the death has affected the killer and his family as well.

Besides law enforcement who apprehends the driver for the crime, communities that adhere to restorative justice principles have established neighborhood boards or groups of responsible citizens who help to decide the fate of the offender. They may suggest a variety of sanctions, depending on the case. They will see to it that the offender agrees to and follows through on the sanctions.

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