RESTORATIVE JUSTICE
A way of handling crime or conflict:
- addressing the hurts and needs of victim(s) and
- the hurts and needs of offender(s)
- so they and the community may be healed.
With attention to:
- repair of injuries, relationships, and other damage.
- the underlying causes of the offense (e.g., addictions, lack of employment skills, lack of moral or ethical base, oppression, and others).
Key assumptions:
- All parties should be included, including the offender, the community, and the victims if they wish.
- Accountability is based upon accepting responsibility and repairing the harm done.
- Restoration, or making things right, replaces the imposition of punishment for its own sake as the highest priority of the system. Healing and rehabilitation would become common, not the exception.
Possible elements:
- Face-to-face meetings between victims and offenders,
- Restitution, reparations, community service or other alternatives to incarceration,
- Victim impact panels,
- Victim services.
- Competency development