Hurt people hurt people: Restorative Justice as Treatment more Successful?
Hurt people hurt people. Transformed people transform people. This is the motto I have heard again and again in restorative justice (RJ) programming. Restorative justice is an alternative to retributive justice, the format of ours and most others criminal justice systems). Unlike retributive justice, restorative justice focuses on restitution for victims of crime and reintegration with the community. Restorative justice is more often seen for juvenile offenders as a jail diversion program. People may often think of community service, paying fees for damage caused, and rehabilitative programs like AA when they think of restorative justice.
However restorative justice is relational instead of isolating, accepting instead of punishing, and communal instead of institutional. Inspired by the First Nations of Canada, the Navajo in the United States, the Maori in New Zealand and the African philosophy of Ubantu, restorative justice requires responsibility, honesty, communication, love, reparations, community, and intense psychological work. Restorative justice values healing, forgiveness and transformation. Most famously, the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), headed by Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu in response to the apartheid atrocities, introduced restorative justice to the world as a way to respond to criminal behavior. The TRC facilitated three central tenets of restorative justice: uplifting victims by giving them a voice through the Human Rights Violations Committee, caring for victim’s needs through the Reparation and Rehabilitation Committee and offender responsibility, and reintegration through the Amnesty Committee (Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, n.d.).
Innate in its tenets, restorative justice for justice-involved people requires treatment, trauma-informed care, and rehabilitation. Throughout the textbook Criminal Behavior: A Psychological Approach a pattern of effective treatment shines through: early-intervention, involving family and community, human-centered, and modeling and engaging in correct behavior (Bartol & Bartol, 2021). After reviewing much research, Bartol and Bartol (2021) conclude that treatment that is person-centered and engages the families and communities of offenders is the most effective, even with psychopaths and pedophiles, generally considered “the worst of the worst.” Restorative justice is just that.
Recognizing that hurt people hurt people brings about that person-centered approach that is under-developed in our modern system. Aligning with this motto means aligning with trauma-informed care, as offenders work to understand what they did and why. In restorative justice, offenders are not only required to take responsibility for the harm caused but they are also responsible for being changed as they are held accountable by the victim and community not by correctional officers or a judge.
Institutionally, criminal justice systems are not set up for restorative justice. However, this modality can be extremely useful and transformative. Restorative justice has bloomed in pockets of the US, such as a correctional facility in Norfolk, MA (see link below). As seen in the video link below, restorative justice is possible and that transformed people transform people.
https://www.wcvb.com/article/bringing-inmates-and-victims-of-crime-together/8460150
References:
Bartol, C. R., & Bartol, A. M. (2021). Criminal behavior: A psychological approach (12th ed.). Pearson.
Beaudet, M. (2017, January 26). Bringing inmates and victims of crime together. WCVB-TV. https://www.wcvb.com/article/bringing-inmates-and-victims-of-crime-together/8460150
Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, South Africa. (n.d.). Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) reports and commission information. https://www.justice.gov.za/trc/trccom.html
Leung, M. (1999). The Origins of Restorative Justice. Canadian Forum on Civil Justice.