Restorative justice: Coming full circle
In a population supposedly linked together by six degrees of separation, we often overlook the chain effect our behavior has on the community. Age-old wisdom tells us it takes a village to raise a child. Helpless romances blossom with the girls next door. The Golden Rule commands us to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. Yet in spite of our steadfast proverbs, destructive criminal actions continue to target and wound the whole community. But restorative justice responds to those harms with a transformative, healing practice.
The concept focuses on repairing criminal harms by examining their impact on not only the offender but more importantly on the victim and the community, said Janine Geske, former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice and distinguished professor of law at Marquette University Law School. Restorative justice holistically approaches crime, calling upon all involved parties to openly discuss their viewpoints through methods such as sharing circles and victim-offender conferencing. The concept addresses three main questions: Who has been harmed? What is the harm? How can the harm be fixed?
The idea behind restorative justice originates in deeply rooted tribal traditions, Geske said. At Native American tribal assemblies, community members held talking pieces such as feathers, rocks and sticks to indicate whose turn it was to speak. Similar practices were also found within New Zealand tribal communities and the Mennonite religious tradition.
Despite restorative justice’s longstanding practices, the United States didn’t embrace its methodology until recently whereas Canada, New Zealand and the European Union have extensive documentation of its practice, Geske said. The American restorative justice movement first appeared in the 1970s but has gained momentum in the last 10 to 15 years.
Under direction of Geske, Milwaukee has begun to implement restorative justice into its community. Marquette has collaborated with local and federal law enforcement, volunteers and community organizations to create the Safe Streets Initiative, a restorative justice program that targets drug and gang-violence in the roughest parts of Milwaukee.
Geske described the program as an opportunity for communities to hold offenders accountable for their actions and to sound a final call for change. It asks offenders to clean up their acts or face the consequences of law enforcement. Through community support and accountability, the SSI ultimately hopes offenders will realize their harmful actions have a viral effect on the individuals around them.
A drug dealer doesn’t see his impact on a drug-addicted mother whose child is taken away, or how gun shots in a neighborhood shake a community’s safety and security, Geske said. Law enforcers, offenders, victims and communities gain insight into their intertwined interactions through the open dialogue the SSI encourages.
Call-ins, the SSI’s central program component, encourage community leaders to convene with drug dealers and gang members in an effort to confront injury and work to heal the community. Community interventions often take the form of restorative justice circles, a mutual meeting of minds and opportunity for every participant to share his individual perspective without interruption.
Participants gather in a circle and discuss how harm shapes their community, Geske said. Similar to Native American traditions, a talking piece is passed around the room to indicate an individual’s time to verbalize his perspective.
Paulina de Haan, community coordinator for the SSI on Milwaukee’s near south side, said the circles and call-ins she organizes are definite deterrents for crime.
“Ninety-five percent of the crime that occurs only really occurs by 5 percent of the population,” de Haan said. “In the inner city, most people are just trying to make a living and be safe. The theory is that if we target the most violent, gang-affiliated, we can show offenders their actions are bad and have consequences.”
And restorative justice’s impact is evident. de Haan recalled a moving circle in which two former rival gang members joined. In the past they had directed hatred and gunfire at one another, but by the circle’s end they exchanged apologies and hugs. de Haan said she felt uneasy about the situation but trusted the circle’s process.
“Telling each other how much they hated each other and realizing there was no basis for it was incredible,” de Haan said.
Through circles, restorative justice ultimately helps heal communities, but one of its most powerful components brings victims and offenders together through one-on-one conferencing.
Oftentimes victims initiate contact with offenders in order to satisfy their curiosity, Geske said. In some cases the victim wants the offender to hear the harms he caused. In other instances victims want to know more about the crime or what the offender has done since it was committed. Ultimately, victim-offender conferences aim to provide closure and healing to the victim.
“If we paid more attention to supporting victims, we would have fewer offenders,” Geske said.
Will Butler, president of Marquette University Law School’s Restorative Justice Society, said that there would be fewer offenders if communities incorporated restorative justice measures into everyday society.
“It’s the difference between being in the emergency room with a heart attack versus preventing one by exercising and eating right,” Butler said.
Implementing restorative justice programs into school systems and neighborhood communities teaches individuals healthy techniques for tackling conflict, he said. Members of the legal community must also step forward to promote this approach to the legal system.
“What starts really small can become large,” Butler said. “The legal community needs to set a standard. It’s important that the legal community steps up and says there’s more to conflict than just crime.”
The law field’s slow implementation of more restorative justice measures comes from professionals fearing they won’t appear tough on crime if they embrace the concept, he said.
“No one wants someone in office who isn’t tough on crime,” Butler said. “The problem is much more nuanced than what can be put on a voter ticker. “
The approach isn’t designed to take the place of our criminal justice system; it’s designed to repair harm instead of ignoring the fact that harm has been committed, he said. Not every case is right for restorative justice. Dangerous people should not be released from prisons.
In the end, restorative justice reconnects victims, offenders and the community.
Despite society’s technological playground of tweeting and blogging, we grow increasingly disconnected with the community around us. A merry-go-round of fast track communication claims to bring us together but often creates distance between us and our neighbors. We have Internet connectivity at our fingertips but often forget about the human web that pulls us together.
“The most powerful thing about not only circle but restorative justice is the idea of community,” Butler said. “Communities have a powerful way of influencing other people to act right. When you don’t have a community around you, you don’t realize the impact of your actions.”
de Haan said she sees the power of community in the district in which she works.
“We need more community in the inner city,” de Haan said. “It’s a transient community that moves around a lot. People are working hard to make ends meet, and circles help remind everyone we’re in on this together.”
In other words, healing comes full circle. Offenders realize the harm they cause to victims. Victims find closure and a sense of peace. The community grows closer and stronger to one another.
Tags: circles, community, crime, criminal, milwaukee, offenders, restorative justice, Safe Streets Initiative, safety, victim, victims
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