Randy Cohen, The Ethicist, who writes an insightful and often humorous column for the New York Times Magazine, made a good case for using restorative justice recently. He answered a question asked by a restaurant manager if he should call the police on a server who was caught stealing. Mr. Cohen said no! He pointed out the failings of our justice system in clear and undeniable terms. The sever too had admitted guilt and offered…
“Not everyone’s wounds will heal” after being victimized by crime, an experienced judge says. This is true. Some people will never heal. Restorative justice is not a panacea that will heal every single person’s wounds suffered from being a crime victim. Restorative justice offers only the opportunity for healing, not a guarantee, but we know from an abundance of research that restorative justice helps many people. Currently our justice system primarily only offers crime victims…
Professor and author Howard Zehr, commonly referred to as the grandfather of the modern restorative justice movement, has written a list of ten ways to live restoratively in his November 27, 2009 blog: http://emu.edu/blog/restorative-justice/2009/11/27/10-ways-to-live-restoratively/ Professor Zehr’s landmark book Changing Lenses is one of the first books I read about restorative justice about 15 years ago. Since then I have referred it to anyone wanting to learn about restorative justice. I have also used it as…
Restorative justice values the voice of victims and works to protects their rights. Another sad example of how our retributive justice system works to re-victimize victims, is the story of a woman whose voice was not heard or valued by the system. The woman was 13 years old in 1977 when charges were brought against movie director Roman Polanski for sexually assaulting her. Because Polanski fled the county before being sentenced for having sex with…