I just finished a three-day training today in restorative justice. I am blown away by the vast amounts of things I learned in the three days. I can barely process all of it, my head is so full. I was learning more about victim/offender conferencing or mediation and more about the current criminal justice system than I ever have.
One of the larger concepts I walked away with from the workshop is how completely unfriendly our current justice system is to victims of crime. Even the court process is about the state vs. offender. Victims are left only as witnesses. They rarely have a voice in the process. When they do, it can be limited to victim impact statements that in some states, get this, are limited to 250 words. How do you explain the impact, damage, emotion and loss to crime in your life in 250 words or less? In some higher profile cases, the press is given better seating in the courtroom at the trial than the victims. I had no idea how insensitive the criminal justice system was for the victims of crime and/or their families.
The process is also traumatizing and ineffective when it comes to offenders. The idea that these are humans who made a bad choice vs. the idea these are bad people is often, if not always, lost on the system. We treat them so badly that it is no wonder recidivism is so high. Rather than restoring or making any attempt at changing the circumstances, issues or problems that cause crime, we spend our time punishing the crime. I am learning that doesn’t help the victim, doesn’t prevent crime, and doesn’t rehabilitate the offender. It also costs us a fortune as tax payers.
On the other side of this coin is the process of restorative justice which seeks to repair the harm of crime as opposed to just punish individuals for crime. It seeks restoration of all involved rather than revenge, punishment, or the delivery of what someone deserves to get for their crimes. It doesn’t let people off the hook but instead forces them to take responsibility for their actions and deal with the impact of them. The idea of having victims of crime meet with the offenders of crime makes so much sense. Victims are left with so many unanswered questions that answered, could lead to a more complete healing system. “Why me?” or “Was this random?” or “what were the last words of my loved one?”, “Did they ask for me?” are all questions that many times go unanswered for victims and their families. Restorative Justice seeks to change that.
Restorative Justice is not a new concept. Native Americans, Tribal Communities in Africa and other places have used different types of restorative justice for centuries. Healing circles, mediation, and conferencing are all viable options of creating better outcomes for the victim, the offender and the community. The impact of crime often extends way past the immediate people. If a house in burglarized, it is not just the family that own that house that are the victims. The entire community gets put on fear alert. All become impacted by the crime. Restorative justice seeks to address the full impact of a crime.
I felt so inspired to be part of the training and see the amazing things that are being done is this field. I hope by me writing about this that you my reader will take a look at the process and feel as inspired and energized as I feel.
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May 10th, 2008 at 4:18 pm
I think punishment is a deterrent. The problem is the punishment is not harsh enough. Make jail and prison a place one does not want to be and the crime rate will drop.
May 10th, 2008 at 5:54 pm
That the problem. Punishment is not a deterrent, it is an obstacle. Rather than changing the reasons people do or don’t do something, we change how they do it.
We should not be trying to deter people from making bad choices, we should be showing them why they should make good choices.
Punishment serves to make people do and not do something so they can avoid punishment. Rather than not doing something because it hurts others, we get people to do things by saying x will happen. It doesn’t stop people from doing stuff.
We have the more people in jails here in the USA then any other country. We also have some of the highest penalties. We have high recidivism rates, as well.
Look at a kid, punishment won’t stop a kid from vandalism. It will change the time he does it so he won’t get punished. Now, make kids understand vandalism is wrong and has impact on the community and they won’t want to do it.
Punishment doesn’t work. It is a losing game for everyone. Ask yourself two question Kender, What is it you want someone to do. Not what you don’t want them to do, but what you do want them to do. Then ask yourself what do you want the other person’s reasons to be for doing it?
If there are only doing something to avoid punishment, they will just find a way to do it and still avoid the punishment. We need to give people reasons that enrich life. Punishment doesn’t do that.
May 10th, 2008 at 5:58 pm
Quote from Marshall Rosenberg:
Punishment is a losing game. We want people to change behavior not because they they are going to be punished if they continue, but because they see better options that meet their needs at less cost.
May 10th, 2008 at 10:37 pm
I think the whole idea of prisons as being holding pens instead of places where people are rehabilitated is a real problem. And as you pointed out, it is no wonder that so many people re-offend when they get out.
May 12th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
Joe, it is a question of personal responsibility and the culture of victimhood being one of the major driving forces behind crime.
Too many people are taught that their choices are not their fault, it is the fault of someone in their past that has wronged them in some way that has forced them to act as they have. Never mind that in many cases that nebulous someone is some long dead slave owner hwo may or may not have owned someone’s great great grandparent (in the case of the black community) or some faceless corporation that has made in so that someone else must sneak into our country to work (in the case of illegals) or even a parent that smacked you around when you were a kid.
If punishment were truly an option for acting badly then not committing the crime becomes a better option. Prison is not harsh enough. Cable TV, exercise equipment, three hots and a cot, not to mention all the items they can get if they have a caring family or friends on the outside and except for the loss of freedom of movement and the fact that you are locked in a place with a lot of predators prison is not near punishment enough.
We have spent 30 plus years trying to rehab people, and crime keeps getting worse. Perhaps part of the reason we have such a high recidivism rate is due to the fact that our prisons are not harsh enough. In countries where the prison system is feared crime is much lower and recidivism rates much smaller.
The answer is not more rehab and mollycoddling, the answer is make prison a place to fear.
May 12th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
Kender,
Could you show me the evidence you used to show their is too much rehab going on?
Most studies indicate there isn’t any rehab going on. In many states, rehab is optional. In other words, it is not enforced. Treatement is also not enforced. We just house people and let them watch tv. We don’t treat the underlying causes of crime.
As far the victimhood and choices, when you get into poor areas the choices don’t exist. Violence and crime go hand in hand with jobs, economy and housing. If kids have no after school programs, no summer jobs, no access to money then crime goes up. That isn’t victimhood that is reality.
We need to create more opportunties for youth, more jobs and more education opportunties. Instead, we just house people like numbers rather than people.
Making prison harsher doesn’t stop crime. Giving people options stops crime.
May 14th, 2008 at 5:16 pm
Joe (apologies on the delay in getting back to you) prison is too easy. There should be no TV. There should be hard work (I am a fan of chain gangs), minimal amenities and serious consequences for breaking any rule in prison.
You want to take care of the underlying causes of crime? Then change the culture of victimhood in this country that teaches people they are owed something for past transgressions on their ancestors. Change the culture of the “baby daddy” and “baby momma” and bring back traditional family values that push towards children after adulthood and serious committed relationships instead of instant divorce, dead beat dads and fathering child after child from different men.
Teach people that they are responsible for their actions, and will reap the rewards or consequences of those actions and make sure to follow through.
Too many people use too many excuses to try to get out of the consequences of actions they willingly undertake.
And that’s is your number one problem.
May 14th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
Kender,
I really can’t take much of what you say as anything more than “kender’s opinion”. You have offered no evidence that stiffer punishments result in less crime. I disagree with your ideas and standpoints because I see them as controlling people by fear. I don’t want people’s reason for not committing crime to be fear of punishment. I don’t think that is an effective way to deal with things. The stats also show that those things don’t deter crime but restorative justice does.
Joe
June 27th, 2008 at 11:08 am
I am proud to say that I work for restorative justice. I work for my county’s department of human services and work in a diversion program called the Neighborhood Accountability Board. We work with you offenders only. We take in non-violent crime charges, and mainly first time offenses. We make home visits and facilitate conferences between the victim, youth, parents, and volunteer board members. The youth will talk about the incident, what the harm is, who has been harmed, and a caseplan is created for the youth in order to repair the harm. This is based on their strengths and goals. Many of them will write apology letters to their victims, write essays on the effects of crime (e.g. vandalizing a home, or shoplifting). We may assign the youth to talk to their guidance counselor to discuss their academic goals. Many of the assignments have helped raise their grades, and lifts their self-esteem. Our program has a 96.8% success rate vs. 13% for the traditional punitive. Also, only 3.2 % of our kids re-offend. Where I live in Florida, adult incarceration costs $18,108 on average annually. Preventing habitual offenders from re-offending saves $7.8 million annually. A 1% reduction in juvenile crim saves Floridians an estimated $15.6 million, including $10.3 million in criminal justice costs and $5.3 million in victim costs. Punitive justice DOES NOT repair the harm that is happening in our communities. We must change to restorative justice and TREAT crime and CHANGE criminal behavior and the other social/ psychological issues that are existing. One of my favorite quotes “Be the change you wish to see in the world” by Ghandi.
Kender, I encourage you to research more on punitive justice vs. restorative justice.
Peace and love,
Joelle