Restorative Justice
Goals of Restorative Justice
- Provide opportunity for victim to be directly involved with the discussion and decision regarding appropriate sanctions placed on the offender.
- Increase offenders awareness of the impact of their behavior and provides an opportunity to take full responsibility for it.
- Engage in collective responsibility of the offender’s support system for making amends and shaping the offender’s future behavior.
- Allow offender and victim to reconnect to key community support systems.
Works Well for
- Battery and Public Affray
- Burglary
- Social Media Threats
- Theft
- Vandalism
- After Detention Center
Restorative Justice Process
Pre-Circle:
The victim and offender are interviewed by the Restorative Justice Specialists separately. Buy in, intent, and solutions are discussed.
Circle:
- Review incident
- Victim shares impact story
- Offender responds to victim’s story and why they committed the offense
- Comments
- Repair
- Restorative Justice plan/commitment
Restorative Justice Circle Process
Begins with offender or JPO describing how the system views the incident. This is used as an educational opportunity because many of the offenses are not commonly viewed as offences by youth or families. Victims starts discussion, if they wish. Through these narrations, the offender is faced with the human impact of the behavior on the victim, on those close to the victim, and on the offender’s own family and friends. The victim will have the opportunity to express feelings and ask questions about the incident. All participants may contribute to determining how the offender might best repair the harm he or she has caused. THe session will end with all participants signing a Restorative Justice Plan that outlines activities and commitments to be fulfilled by the offender.
Post Circle:
The victim and offender are interviewed separately to discuss how they feel after the process and if they think it worked.