Restorative Justice For Victims, Offenders and Community

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Restorative JusticeFor Victims, Offenders and
Community

• Mark Umbreit, Ph.D., Sheryl Wilson, B.A. Annie
  Roberts M.Sc.
• Center for Restorative Justice Peacemaking
• University of Minnesota
• School of Social Work
• January 2006

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Key QuestionsRetributive Justice

• What laws were broken?
• Who did it?
• What punishment do they deserve?
• Dr. Howard Zehr
• Eastern Mennonite University

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Key QuestionsRestorative Justice

• Who has been hurt by this event?
• What are their needs?
• Whose obligations are they?
• Dr. Howard Zehr
• Eastern Mennonite University

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Key CharacteristicsRestorative Justice

• Victim-centered
• Offender-focused
• Community-driven
• Government as safeguard
• Dr. Marlene Young
• National Organization for Victim Assistance

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Restorative Justice

• Restorative justice provides opportunities
  for those most directly affected by a crime
  (victim,offender, families, and other community
  members) to be actively involved in the process
  of addressing harms, needs and obligations. RJ is
  about offender accountability, victim healing,
  and community safety, through mediation and
  dialogue whenever possible.
• Dr. Mark S. Umbreit
• University of Minnesota

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Current Justice System HOLDING OFFENDERS
ACCOUNTABLE

• ACCOUNTABILITY MEANS TAKING
• YOUR PUNISHMENT
• Victim and Offender in passive roles
• Focus on deficits
• Debt is abstract
• Little, if any, victim restitution

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Restorative Justice System HOLDING OFFENDERS
ACCOUNTABLE

• ACCOUNTABILITY MEANS TAKING
• RESPONSIBILITY AND TAKING ACTION
• TO REPAIR THE HARM TO VICTIM(S)
• Victim and offender in active roles
• Focus on strengths
• Debt is concrete
• Victim restitution/restoration is norm

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Key Elements of Restorative Justice(Howard Zehr
12/98)

• Harm-focused
• Victim-centered responses
• Offender accountably addresses the harm

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Key Elements of Restorative Justice(Howard Zehr
12/98)

• Engagement
• Stakeholders involved in the process victims,
  community, offender
• Dialogue, exchange of information, mutual
  agreement encouraged

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RJ Dialogue Processes - Prototypes

• Victim Offender Mediation (VOM)
• Victim and offender
• Multi-party
• Restorative Group Conferencing (RGC)
• Family Group Conferencing (FGC)
• Community Conferencing (CC)
• Circles
• Peacemaking circles
• Talking circles

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COMMUNITY POLICING
R J Dialogue Processes
Restorative Dialogue Models
PRISONER RE-ENTRY
Adapted from Mark Seidler, Clearestory
Communcations markus_at_csd.net
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Engaging Involving Crime VictimsA Balanced
Restorative Justice System

• Victim Members on Advisory Committees
• Victim Members on Special Task Forces
• Victim Awareness Staff Training
• Victim Awareness Training for Offenders
• Victim Panels/Dialogue with Offenders
• Victim Offender Dialogue Groups
• (in facility and/or in community)

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Engaging Involving Crime VictimsA Balanced
Restorative Justice System

• Victim Offender Mediation Conferencing
• Family Group Conferencing
• Peacemaking and Sentencing Circles
• Victims as Mentors for Offenders
• Victims as Supervisors of Community Service
• (Dr. Mark Umbreit, BARJ Project)

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Where RJ Dialogue fits in CJS
DIVERSION
PRE-TRIAL OR PRE- ADJUDICATION
PREVENTION
Dialogue Opportunity
PAROLE REENTRY
PROBATION
PRISON OR COMMITMENT
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Evidence-based Best PracticesRestorative Justice
Dialogue

• A Meta-Analysis conducted by the Canadian
  Department of Justice, 2001
• Examined 27 victim offender mediation program
  evaluations
• Examined 8 family group conferencing program
  evaluations
• 26 youth studies, 9 adult studies

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Outcome Measures Examined

• Victim Satisfaction
• Offender Satisfaction
• Restitution Compliance
• Recidivism

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Victim Satisfaction

• Higher victim satisfaction ratings when
• compared to a comparison group
• Total of 13 studies, 9 VOM, 4 FGC

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Offender Satisfaction

• Moderate to weak positive impact on offender
  satisfaction in all but one of the 13 studies
  when compared to non-restorative approaches
• Total of 13 studies, 7 VOM, 6 FGC

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Restitution Compliance

• Substantially higher compliance rates
• than offenders exposed to other
• arrangements
• Total of 8 studies

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Recidivism

• Restorative justice dialogue or conferencing, on
  average, yield reductions in recidivism when
  compared to non-restorative approaches
• Total of 32 studies, 24 VOM, 8 FGC

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Nugent, Umbreit, Wiinamaki, PaddockRecidivism
Study Meta Analysis2001

• Successful replication of 4 studies
• Sample of 1,298 juvenile offenders
• VOM 619, Comparison Group 679
• 32 REDUCTION IN RECIDIVISM

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Participation in Victim Offender Mediation and
the Prevalence and Severity of Subsequent
Delinquent Behavior A Meta-Analysis

• William Nugent, Mona Williams, Mark Umbreit
• University of Tennessee and University of
  Minnesota
• Utah Law Review, December 2003
• Total sample of 9,307 juvenile offenders
• Sample came from 19 program sites (15 prior
  studies)
• The meta-analysis suggests a 26 reduction in
  recidivism
• For those who recidivated, their future
  delinquent behavior decreased in severity
  (statistically significant)
• The effect size is 2-3 times greater than 2 prior
  meta-analyses of juvenile recidivism in
  non-restorative programs

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Selected Books

• The Little Book of RJ (series) Zehr
• Critical Issues in RJ Zehr and Toews
• Peacemaking Circles Pranis, Stuart Wedge
• The Handbook of VOM Umbreit
• Facing Violence Umbreit, Vos, Coates, Brown
• Changing Lenses Zehr

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Videos and Web-site

• Restorative Justice Videos -- 20 each
• 1 of 6 in series total price for all 100
• Center for RJ Peacemaking, U of MN, School of
  Social Work, 1-612-624-4923
• Web-site, Center for Restorative Justice
  Peacemaking, University of Minnesota
• Current ssw.che.umn.edu/rjp
• Soon to be changed to rjp.umn.edu

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RJ Dialogue other systems
CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM (CJS)
FAITH COMMUNITIES
PUBLIC HEALTH - SOCIAL SERVICES
RJ Opportunity
SCHOOLS
COMMUNITY/ NEIGHBORHOOD
WORKPLACE