1. Restorative Justice for Juvenile Justice:
Stakeholders, Principles, Outcomes
Presented by:
Gordon Bazemore, Ph.D., Project Director, Balanced and Restorative Justice Project, Community Justice Institute, Florida Atlantic University, Ft. Lauderdale, FL

2. -Justice as Punishment/Retribution?
WHAT IS JUSTICE?
-Justice as Punishment/Retribution?
-Justice as Treatment?
-Justice as Accountability and Responsibility!

3. Crime Is More Than Lawbreaking
Crime HARMS:
Victims,
Communities,
and Offenders.
It also damages relationships.

4. If crime is harm,
Justice should be healing.

5. THREE BASICS OF RESTORATIVE JUSTICE
-3 Stakeholders
-3 Principles
-3 Outcomes

7. Restorative Justice Stakeholders: Balancing Needs
Victim and family/support group
Offender and family/support group
Community
Juvenile Justice System

8. VICTIM NEEDS a less formal process where their views count;
WHAT VICTIMS REALLY WANT:
a less formal process where their views count;
more information about processing and outcome of their case;

9. to participate in their cases; to be treated respectfully and fairly;
VICTIMS WANT:
to participate in their cases;
to be treated respectfully and fairly;
material and emotional restoration [especially an apology];

10. “ Victims frequently want longer time for offenders because we haven’t given them anything else. Or because we don’t ask, we don’t know what they want. So [the system] gives them door Number One or Two, when what they really want is behind Door Number 3 or 4.” ~ Mary Achilles

11. RJ: FOR THE PERSON HARMED
A CHOICE IN HOW THEY WANT TO PROCEED
AN OPPORTUNITY TO SPEAK OUT ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM
AN OPPORTUNITY TO HAVE A VOICE IN HOW TO RIGHT ANY WRONGS DONE TO THEM
A WAY TO FEEL SOME POWER OR SAFETY OR REASSURANCE

12. OFFENDER NEEDS:
Young offenders need:
The opportunity to take responsibility for the harm caused by their behavior; take action to repair the harm; have a voice in the decisionmaking process;

13. Opportunities and support for reintegration to their communities;
OFFENDERS NEED:
Opportunities and support for reintegration to their communities;
To build a range of assets, skills and pro-social relationships.

14. FOR THE PERSON DOING HARM
A CHANCE TO BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR ACTIONS
AN OPPORTUNITY TO RIGHT THEIR WRONGS
A CHANCE TO BE PART OF THE SOLUTION, NOT JUST THE PROBLEM
THE POSSIBILITY TO LEARN FROM WHAT HAPPENED
AN OPPORTUNITY TO DEVELOP EMPATHY AND UNDERSTAND IMPACT OF THEIR BEHAVIOR
AN OPPORTUNITY TO GET ASSISTANCE TO ALTER OR CHANGE HARMFUL BEHAVIOR

15. COMMUNITY NEEDS
(Formal justice system procedures) “deprive people of opportunities to practice skills of apology and forgiveness, or reconciliation, restitution, and reparation The modern state appears to have deprived civil society of opportunities to learn important political and social skills ~ David Moore

16. FOR THE COMMUNITY
A MEANS TO HANDLE PROBLEMS THAT OTHERWISE AREN’T DEALT WITH—TOOLS, SKILLS, CONFIDENCE TO INTERVENE
ACKNOWLEDGES HARM DONE TO THE COMMUNITY
THE PERSON WHO COMMITTED HARM IS HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR ACTIONS TAKEN
EVERYONE IS KEY TO PARTICIPATING IN THE SOLUTION

17. Stakeholder Involvement Community and Government Role Transformation
Three Principles of
Restorative Justice?
Repairing Harm
Stakeholder Involvement
Community and Government Role Transformation

18. Principle 1 - REPAIR
Justice requires that we work to heal victims, communities, and offenders who have been injured by crime.

19. Repairing Harm Two Primary Objectives:
1. Making Amends: Meeting Victim Needs; Creating a New Image for Offender; Enhancing Reciprocity
2. Building Relationships: Reconnecting with Prosocial Adults and Peers

20. Core Practices: Restorative Obligations or Sanctions
Possible Obligations Required in an RJ Conference or Reparative Court Order:
Apologize to Victims and Others
Make restitution to victims
Provide restorative community service
Participate in victim awareness activities
Other

21. Reconnecting… Crime weakens relationships Victim Victim
Offender
Victim
Community
Victim
Community
Offender
Restorative justice reconnects

22. Principle 2 - Involvement
Victims, communities and offenders should have opportunities for active involvement in the justice process as early and as fully as possible.
THREE RJ PRINCIPLES

23. Stakeholder Involvement
Three Primary Objectives:
-“Respectful Disapproval”: Condemn offender’s action while supporting the offender.
-“Healing Dialogue”: Needs-driven victim, offender, supporter discourse is more important than agreement.

24. Stakeholder Involvement
Three Primary Objectives, continued:
-“Common Ground”: Build on Points of Mutual Interest between V-O, V-C, O-C…collective healing

25. Finding Common Ground
Offender
Victim
Community

26. Nonadversarial Stakeholder Decisionmaking:
Core Practices: Restorative
Conferencing Models
Nonadversarial Stakeholder Decisionmaking:
Family Group Conferencing
Reparative or Accountability Boards
Sentencing and Peacemaking Circles
Victim Offender Dialogue (Mediation)
Community Conferencing
Merchant Accountability Boards

27. ELEMENTS of a RESTORATIVE CONFERENCE
VOLUNTARY
HAVE TO ADMIT HARM
WILLING TO PROBLEM SOLVE
ANY PARTY CAN STOP AT ANY TIME
CONDUCTED BY A TRAINED FACILITATOR

28. RGC Participants Facilitator Supporter Offender Victim Supporter
Community
Member
School
Administrator/
Law
Enforcement
Models:
Family Group Conferencing
Community Conferencing
V/O Dialogue
Community Circles
Healing Circles
Small & Large Group Conferencing
Human services
And/or
probation

29. Principle 3 – Changing Community/ System Roles & Relationships
We must re-think the relative role and responsibilities of the government and the community. Government is responsible for preserving order. The community is responsible for establishing peace.

30. Community & The Justice System: Changing The Relationship
Justice system operates separately from the community
Justice system provides more information to the community about its activities.
Justice system provides information to the community about its activities and asks for information from the community.
Justice system asks for guidance from the community, recognizes a need for community help, and places more activities in the community.
Justice system follows community leadership.

31. Community/System Role Transformation
Three Primary Objectives:
-Build “Social Capital”: Relationships and networks of trust and reciprocity—connections
-Create Sense of Collective Ownership of Problem or Conflict
-Develop Problem Solving Skills—Conflict resolution, informal social control, support; members of safe communities “don’t mind own business”

32. THREE GOALS: A BALANCED MISSION

33. Justice System Offender Community Victim Community Protection
Competency Development
Accountability
Justice System

34. Restorative Accountability
NOT “taking the punishment” or obeying the rules.
Taking responsibility for, & action to making amends to victim and victimized community;
Victim, youth, family and community in active roles in this process.

35. Restorative Accountability
OUTCOMES of ACCOUNTABITY
AGREEMENT:
Restitution
Community service
Apologies
Address victim and community
concerns

36. Competency Development
NOT absence of negative behavior (e.g., crime, drug use) or completion of treatment or remedial program.
But, capacity to do something well that others value..

37. Competency Development
COMPETENCY DEVELOPMENT OUTCOMES:
demonstrated improvements in;
educational, vocational, social, civic, and other competencies that increase youth capacity to function as capable, productive adults.

38. NOT building more locked facilities or creating and enforcing rules.
Community Safety
NOT building more locked facilities or creating and enforcing rules.
But increase in capacity of community groups to prevent crime, resolve conflict, exercise guardianship, reduce community fear, define tolerance limits and exercise informal social control.

39. Community Safety Goals
COMMUNITY SAFETY OUTCOMES:
demonstrated improvements in:
-Recidivism reduction;
-Skills of guardianship;
-Collective Efficacy, Informal Social Control;
-Mutual support for youth and families
-Skills of conflict resolution and reparation

40. Grounded Community Theory: Neighborhood Accountability Boards
Why it Works
Grounded Community Theory: Neighborhood Accountability Boards
“We aren’t getting paid to do this.”
“We can exercise the authority that parents have lost.”
“We live in their community.”
“We give them input into the contract.”
“We are a group of adult neighbors who care about them.”
“They hear about the harm from real human beings – us and the victims.”
“We follow up.”

41. “So we make mistakes – can you say – you (the current system) don’t make mistakes? If you don’t think you do, walk through our community, every family will have something to teach you…By getting involved, by all of us taking responsibility, it is not that we won’t make mistakes…
But we would be doing it together, as a community instead of having it done for us. We need to find peace within our lives…in our communities. We need to make real differences in the way people act and the way we treat others…Only if we empower them and support them can they break out of this trap…” ~ Rose Couch, Community Justice Coordinator, Whitehorse, Yukon