Restorative Justice:

Restorative Justice
The current justice system in the United States feeds poor and minority people to a correctional department that has in turn created a massive prison industry. And while more and more prisons are built and longer sentences are handed out, none of this impacts crime.

It is time to ask: What can we do differently?
In 2001 Patrice Gaines heard about a movement of change called restorative justice  (RJ). Upon researching the practice, Gaines found the philosophy fit her spiritual beliefs about forgiveness, judgment and how to change society for the betterment of everyone. She was so convinced that restorative justice could transform the country’s broken system of justice that in 2002 she became a certified restorative justice trainer. As a trainer, she can teach communities, churches and other groups how to set up restorative justice programs—and she can train others to become RJ trainers.

The philosophy of restorative justice is that those affected by the crime—the victims, community members and offenders—should be allowed to play a role in the justice process. Instead of focusing on punishment of the offender, the priority is to, as much as possible, repair the emotional and material damages caused by the crime. This is a philosophy that has always been practiced in some parts of African and in Native American communities as well as by some other indigenous communities around the world. It also supports the values and ideas followed by many just a few generations ago, when neighbors watched other people’s kids, helped patrol their own communities—and believed they could.

An example of restorative justice:
A Norfolk, Va. teen driver hits a woman’s car, injuring her. He then flees the scene. Through the juvenile court’s RJ program, the teen writes a letter of apology to the victim. The program helps him find a job also so he can pay restitution to the woman. Then he and the woman agree to attend a supervised meeting. For the youth, the victim becomes real and the teen is astounded also that the woman forgives him. For the woman, healing occurs because she has an opportunity to talk to the youth and tell him that she forgives him , but also that she was hurt more by his disregard for her than by the physical injuries she received.

Under the current system of justice, this could not have happened. The woman would have been ignored while the state brought charges against the youth. The youth could have continued to deny that his victim was real.

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