Friends Committee on Legislation Education Fund
Restorative and Transformative Justice
Friends often voice the idea that democratic systems of justice should serve more than the retributive instincts of an enraged citizenry. Over the past twenty years, significant practical and theoretical work has been done to establish a form of victim-oriented justice that is described as restorative, transformative, or community centered. In practical terms, this often means that avenues of communication are re-opened between victims and offenders so that the people who have been injured by a crime can recover a sense of safety, and get answers to their questions about the crime and the offender. In many cases the offender can participate in a plan to make the victim as whole as possible, and can grow in the process of becoming re-united with the community.
Many schools have incorporated restorative justice principles into their systems of discipline. The California Judicial Council and the California Youth Authority have conducted a number of workshops to inform probation officers and juvenile court judges about effective programs that employ restorative justice concepts. At least four California counties, Fresno, Monterey, Sacramento, and Shasta, have broad-based efforts under way to implement the restorative justice approach in their systems.
Here are some web-sites that offer further information
- Resources collected by University of Minnesota Center for Restorative Justice and Peacemaking Reports &Policies
- Victims and policies on Restorative Justice
- Center for Peacemaking and Conflict Studies Fresno Pacific College Documents for public comment
- The International Institute for Restorative Practices provides education and research in support of the development of restorative practices.
- Conferencing and restorative justice research findings, discussion of principles and practices, clippings of related articles, and links to other related web sites
- Community partnerships with law enforcement can be effective in correcting the conditions that lead to crime
- Restorative Justice Practice: the State of the Field 1999, by Paul McCold
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