Restorative Justice
Reoffending rates for restorative justice
13% reduction is reoffending rates from the normal rate of 66%.
Percent of victims satisfied with restorative justice
85% of victims were found to be satisfied with the meeting and 78% would recommend it to others.
Dominic Duren
Duren served 12 years in prison. He entered the HELP program of Cincinnati and became a client of the national pilot re-entry program housed in Cincinnati's St. Vincent de Paul Society and was later hired to coordinate it. While in prison, Duran was able to learn data entry and earn his associate's degree in business administration
Monetary benefit of restorative justice
For every 1 pound spent on delivering a face to face meeting, 8 pounds were saved through reductions in reoffending.
The five r's of restorative justice
The five R's include: relationship, respect, responsibility, repair and reintegration
How restorative justice works
There are three components: victim offender mediation, conferencing and circles
Main differences between retributive and restorative justice
Violation of state vs. person, fixation on past/blame v. future/problem solving, replacing v. repairing social injury, inclusion of community, and punishment v. understanding
Restorative justice according to Van Ness
When restorative justice emerged, faults within the criminal justice system were evident. The system focused on punishing offenders for their crime(s) they committed and left out the victims, "the parties most affected." Critiques of the criminal justice system include "societal responses to crime," reflecting values of "control and punishment."
Victim offender mediation
a trained facilitator prepared and brought together a victim and offender to discuss the crime, the harm that resulted and the steps needed to make things right
Retributive justice
crime is defined as a violation of the state. It focuses on establishing blame and guilt and fixates on the past, questioning whether the offender did or did not do the crime. One social injury is replaced by another, and the community is sidelined, represented abstractly by the state. The offender's accountability is defined as taking punishment.
Circles
even more inclusive than victim offender mediation and conferencing. Anyone from the community is welcome to participate. The participants that choose to join "sit in a circle, with discussion moving clockwise from person to person until the participants have arrived at a resolution."
Conferencing
more people are involved than at the victim offender mediation. Family members or friends of the victim and the offender, as well as representatives of the criminal justice system, are invited
Conclusions about restorative justice
Greater satisfaction for the offender, as well as the victim, than with court processes. Victims also feel more secure. Additionally, it was found that offenders are more likely to complete their obligations and, because offenders feel more empathy towards the victims and have a greater understanding of the impact of their actions, they are also less likely to commit criminal acts again in the future.
What is restorative justice?
It is a theory of justice that emphasizes repairing the harm caused or revealed by criminal behavior. It is best accomplished through inclusive and cooperative processes. It refers to an approach to justice that seeks to repair harm by providing an opportunity for those harmed and those who take responsibility for the harm to communicate about and address their needs in the aftermath of a crime. the crime is defined as a violation of one person by another. There is a focus on problem solving, liabilities and on obligations by fixating on the future, questioning what should be done. It also focuses on the repair of social injury, using the community as a facilitator in the restorative process. The offender's accountability is often defined as understanding the impact of their actions and helping decide how to make things right.
Tyra Patterson
Patterson served 23 years in prison and says she was wrongly incarcerated. She achieved all of her 5-year goals within 1 year of being released from prison. The education consisted of "learning to read and write and completing a GED," as well as "earning a steam engineer's license and a paralegal certificate." She was applying for a Soros Justice fellowship to create a program that would provide more people coming out of prison with reentry mentors. She emphasizes the importance of these mentors and helping previously incarcerated individuals effectively reenter society.
Influences/origins of restorative justice
The VORP Program in Kitchener, Ontario. The rise of the restitution and victims' rights movements of the 1970s and 1980s found a partner in the restorative justice movement as a means of paying more attention to victims and their healing.
