FREE ESSAY ON RESTORATIVE JUSTICE

RESTORATIVE JUSTICE

RESTORATIVE JUSTICE
By
Connie Williams
Presented at the National Institution of Corrections Teleconference on Restorative
Justice, December 12, 1996, were the Basic Values of Restorative Justice. They are as
follows:
(1). Crime is an offense against human relationships.
(2). Victims and the community are central to the justice process. 
(3). The first priority of the justice system is to assist victims.
(4). The second priority is to restore the community, to the degree possible.
(5). The offender has personal responsibility to victims and to the community for crimes
committed.
(6). Stakeholders share responsibilities for Restorative Justice through partnerships for
action.
(7). The offender will develop improved competency and understanding as a result of the
Restorative Justice experience.
Restorative Justice is an intellectual rather than an emotional approach to criminal
justice. It is an avenue of reform that is comparable to an infant in its evolution.
Medically we still are exploring the human brain and the linkages in it that create
morality, reciprocity, and aggression. Only learned men and women without prejudices can
in most cases judge whether another man is capable of reform or is a true threat to our
societal goals. Kay Pranis, the Restorative Justice Planner from the Minnesota Department
of Corrections, believes like others in the reformative movement in the concept of
building a new understanding of justice based on a foundation of democracy, caring, and
mutual responsibility. 
The state of Vermont is blazing, and will continue to blaze, new frontiers in the
Reformative Justice Model that is now implemented in the states correctional policies.
John F. Gorczyk, Commissioner of the Vermont Department of Corrections, and Dave Peebles,
the director of planning for the department, opened a conference on July 25, 1998 at
Dartmouth College on Reparative Justice. They presented the theory and design principles
of the Vermont Reparative Model, which is based on the new understanding of human nature
emerging from studies of evolutionary psychology and evolutionary biology.  At the core
of this model is the need for the offender to demonstrate his acknowledgement of
responsibility by engaging actions to repair the damage that he has done (Perry, J.,
1998).
Reparative boards
Reparative boards are a very important part of community involvement in community
based-corrections. The reparative board in each community has important goals. The board
extracts restitution from the offender in the forms of community service, verbal and
public apologies to the victim(s) and the community, and other pertinent requests of
restitution decided on by the board and the offender. Reparative boards assist in the
overseeing of the offenders' probationary period from which the offender is released from
by the board upon completion of his reparative contract. If the offender does not meet
his contract requirements a violation of probation order is cited and the offender must
return to court to face a stiffer penalty. Usually this penalty consists of work crew or
jail time. Reparative boards are selected and run by a probation/parole officer in the
community's jurisdiction. Members of the boards work on a volunteer basis.