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Justifying Restorative Justice: A Theoretical Justification for the Use of Restorative Justice Practices
- Bartholomew Cross
- 3 years ago
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1 Justifying Restorative Justice: A Theoretical Justification for the Use of Restorative Justice Practices Zvi D. Gabbay It is no secret that the criminal justice system, society s means for responding to crime, is far from perfect. Crime victims often feel neglected and ignored by prosecutors and judges, the public does not perceive the system as just and fair, and the system s effectiveness in combating crime is questionable. Despite this reality, an alternative process has emerged, based on a new and entirely different paradigm of justice the restorative justice paradigm. Empirical evidence suggests that restorative processes, which empower crime victims, offenders and communities to take an active part in the formulation of the public response to crime, increase public trust in the justice system and may even reduce re-offense rates. However, questions still remain as to whether employing such processes within the realm of criminal law can be justified and whether these processes conflict with governing theories of punishment. This paper analyzes the premises of the two main theories of punishment that influence sentencing policies in most Western countries retributivism and utilitarianism and compares them to the basic values that structure the restorative justice theory. It then makes clear distinctions between restorative justice and the rehabilitative ideal and addresses the criticism that, like rehabilitation, restorative justice results in different punishments to equally culpable offenders. The paper concludes that restorative justice does not contradict retribution and utility as theoretical justifications for penal sanctioning. Moreover, it suggests that restorative practices rehabilitate the basic notions of retribution and deterrence that have been neglected in modern sentencing schemes, that restorativism contributes new and deeper meaning to those notions and values, and that in doing so restorative justice practices improve and promote society s response to crime. I. PREAMBLE It was a dry winter evening in January R., a young fighter pilot in the Israeli Air Force, was driving his car way home to one of the suburbs of Tel Aviv. Despite rush hour, traffic was moving smoothly, and R. was in no hurry. Suddenly the brake lights of the car in front of him came on and the car quickly came to a full stop. R. hit the brakes and tried to steer the car aside to avoid colliding with the car in front of him. He was unable to stop and the passenger sitting in the The writer is a former prosecutor for the Tel Aviv District Attorney s Office (Criminal Division) and is currently a doctorate (JSD) candidate at Columbia University School of Law. I am very grateful for the comments and contributions of John Braithwaite, George Fletcher, James Liebman, Jeffrey Fagan, Carol Liebman, and Robert Ferguson. I would also like to thank my mother, Shoshana, who tirelessly read through drafts of this article and my wife, Dafna, for her wisdom and encouragement.
2 350 JOURNAL OF DISPUTE RESOLUTION [Vol. 2 back seat of the car in front of him was killed instantly. The deceased was a mother on the way to her son s wedding. The driver of the car was her daughter. The police investigation determined that the car driving in front of R. slowed down and stopped due to heavy traffic and that the situation involved no unusual circumstances. If R. had paid more attention to the road ahead of him, he would have likely noticed the traffic delay and taken the necessary measures to avoid the accident. His negligence resulted in a fatal car crash. The evidence of his negligence precluded any course of action other than to charge R. with negligent homicide, an offense for which the maximum punishment is three years imprisonment. In the arraignment hearing, R. entered a not guilty plea, which launched a long and intense trial. After nearly two years, R. was convicted as charged, but due to his impeccable record, his duties and contribution to society, and the circumstances of the accident, he was sentenced to six months of community service in an old age home and precluded from holding a driver s license for a few years. For the prosecutor, defense attorney and judge who tried the case, there was nothing special about it. It was one of many fatal car accident cases which they were accustomed to handling. The outcome of the trial was determined by professionals, dealing with complex questions of substantive criminal law, evidentiary rules and procedure. 1 The final sentence well within the common range of sentencing for these types of cases was anticipated from the start. Ironically, even though the trial was controlled entirely by professionals, it was certainly not about them. It was the bereaved family, the deceased s friends and neighbors, R., and his family and close friends that were affected by the fatal accident. It was their lives that changed after the accident. Therefore, the question should be: How did the trial affect them? The short answer is not well. At the end of the trial, the bereaved family was devastated. They did not understand why the trial took so long and could not accept its outcome. They were personally hurt by the fact the young pilot did not assume responsibility immediately and lost all respect for the justice system that accepted this behavior. After close to two years of legal proceedings, the bereaved family and friends felt victimized again, this time by the justice system. Interestingly, R. s reaction to his trial was probably not very different. As he clearly articulated in his confident testimony in court, he truly did not feel responsible for the accident. It is unlikely that he changed his mind after the conviction and probably perceived his conviction to be unjust. Although the facts of this case occurred in Israel and were tried according to Israeli law, it is representative of the methods employed by most common law criminal justice systems as their primary response to crime. However, this method suffers from three basic deficiencies, illustrated in this case: (1) the lack of a meaningful role for crime victims, (2) inefficiency and ineffectiveness, and (3) inability to be perceived as just and fair. After two years of legal proceedings, the decedent s family was victimized again by the justice system, the offender did not 1. See Susan M. Olson & Albert W. Dzur, Reconstructing Professional Roles in Restorative Justice Programs, 2003 UTAH L. REV. 57 (examining the roles of professionals in the criminal justice system: the judge, prosecutor, defense attorney and probation officer in light of the growing popularity of restorative justice practices).
3 2005] Justifying Restorative Justice 351 learn anything he did not already know before the trial began, and both sides felt they were treated unjustly. In this article, I will first discuss these three deficiencies in detail, introduce the restorative justice paradigm, offer a working definition for restorative practices and demonstrate their ability to successfully address the criminal justice system s deficiencies. Next, I will analyze the theoretical justification for using such practices in light of the retributive and utilitarian theories of punishment, since it is not self-evident that the law should grant any standing to a process designed to confront victims and offenders and encourage them to agree on ways of restoring the harm caused by the offense. I will argue that the law should do so and will show that not only is restorative justice theoretically compatible with both retributivism and utilitarianism, but it can rehabilitate, enrich and improve the fundamental premises of these punishment theories. At the same time, I will illustrate the differences between restorative justice and the rehabilitative ideal, which are often confused as variations on the same theme. II. THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM AND RESTORATIVE JUSTICE A. What is wrong with our criminal justice system? 1. The place of crime victims in the criminal justice system The case of R. illustrates a number of problems that are not sufficiently addressed by the current criminal justice system operating in most, if not all, of the western world. First, it demonstrates the way in which the justice system deals or does not deal with the victims of criminal offenses; in this case, the decedent s family. Their formal participation in the process was restricted to the testimony of the daughter, who drove the family car. In theory, that could have been a healing opportunity for her to tell her story and face the person accused of causing her mother s death. Not surprisingly, this was not how her experience in court turned out. During cross-examination, she was accused of lying and blaming the defendant in order to ease her guilty conscience. She had to sit silently while the defense presented the court with expert opinions by psychologists and psychiatrists diagnosing her as suffering from post-traumatic repression and as casting blame on another to save herself. She (as well as the other family members, for that matter) did not have any control over the trial or its outcome because crime victims and their families, in general, have no legal status in criminal proceedings. If the daughter had not been a relevant witness to the accident, she would not have been called to testify, hence leaving her and her family completely out of the legal process. Typically, prosecutors do not consult with crime victims on appropriate ways of dealing with cases that concern them and, in most cases, pay very little attention to the victim s point of view in the course of plea-bargaining. 2 There are 2. See GEORGE P. FLETCHER, WITH JUSTICE FOR SOME: VICTIMS RIGHTS IN CRIMINAL TRIALS (Addison-Wesley 1995) (hereinafter WITH JUSTICE FOR SOME) (providing an example of a Brooklyn District Attorney who ignored the opinion of the parents of a kidnapped child in agreeing to
4 352 JOURNAL OF DISPUTE RESOLUTION [Vol. 2 always exceptions, but normally, the prosecution will make the final decision. Disregard of the victim s interests, however, cannot be attributed solely to the practice of prosecutors. Even if the prosecution does its best to inform victims of developments in the proceedings, to listen to them and to treat them with the utmost respect and compassion, there still remains an inherent disregard of crime victims that stems from the basic theory of criminal law. 3 Criminal offenses are defined according to the acts of the offenders and their state of mind during those actions. A criminal trial is focused on proving the legal components of the specific violated norm. If these legal components are proven beyond a reasonable doubt, the discussion moves to the appropriate sanctions or treatment that is to be imposed on the defendant. The entire focus is on the offender. The protected interests behind the offenses are those of the commonwealth, the people or the state, rather than those of the particular victim. Assuming we believe victim s interests should be addressed, at least to some extent, by the criminal justice system as part of the appropriate public response to crime, 4 it must be concluded that the existing justice system suffers a serious deficiency. This salient deficiency gave rise to many victim advocacy groups, to the creation of various victim s rights, and in numerous jurisdictions, even to legislative reforms providing certain acknowledgments of these rights. 5 However, while these changes may have improved the way crime victims are treated by the judicial system to some extent, none have attempted to amend the core deficiency. Victims still remain a foreign factor in the definition of a criminal offense and the substantive and procedural laws governing criminal proceedings. The question then is how should the justice system integrate crime victims interests into the system? Since our justice system is based on the premise of finite rights that must be distributed, we are forced to decide when to prefer one legitimate right over a plea-bargain with the defendant. Fletcher concludes this example by arguing that crime victims should be given the power to approve or disapprove any plea bargain). 3. See George P. Fletcher, The Place of Victims in the Theory of Retribution, 3 BUFF. CRIM. L. REV. 51 (1999) (attempting to reconcile the legitimate interests of crime victims with the absence of any legal standing they might be expected to have in punishment theories). 4. It may be argued that the existing situation is correct, and that victim interests are a matter for civil suit. There certainly is merit in the common approach that crime is an offense against society, and not only against the victim. Therefore, the response should address the general harm done by the offense, not merely the one caused to the victim. However, as Fletcher suggests in WITH JUSTICE FOR SOME, supra note 2, there is still room for improvement even within the current commonlaw criminal justice system (see especially Chapter Six Victims at the Center for concrete suggestions as to how crime victims can be given a say within the criminal proceedings). 5. See Helen Reeves & Kate Mulley, The New Status of Victims in the UK: Opportunities and Threats, in INTEGRATING A VICTIM PERSPECTIVE WITHIN CRIMINAL JUSTICE 125 (Adam Crawford ed. UK, 2000) (discussing recent reforms in crime victims status in the UK); the Israeli Crime Victims Rights Act, 2001 (an unprecedented Act in the Israeli legal system that provides enumerated rights for crime victims in the different stages of the criminal process, from the police investigation to the time the offender is about to be released from prison. Unfortunately, due to budget problems, most of the Act s provisions were stayed until funds are allocated). In the United States, the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, rule 32(i)(B), provides that a federal court must address any crime of violence or sexual abuse at sentencing and must permit the victim to speak or submit any information about the sentence. FED. R. CRIM. P. 32(i)(6) (2004). Although this statute recognized the victim s right to be heard before sentencing, this right s scope is very limited. Id. First, it only applies to victims of violent or sexual crimes; second, it does not impose any duty on the judge to consider the victims position before sentencing the defendant. Id. The statute provides certain victims with the opportunity to speak. Id. It does not determine who has to listen. Id.
5 2005] Justifying Restorative Justice 353 others. When it comes to the criminal justice system, what is the correct balance between the need to address the public aspect of the crime and the legitimate needs of the particular victim? As will be seen, answering these concerns and questions are among the primary objectives of the restorative justice theory, and integrating the victim s perspective in the public response to crime is at the heart of restorative practices. 2. Efficiency and effectiveness of the criminal justice system What is the ultimate goal of the criminal justice system? One approach is that it should do justice, as its name indicates. What this entails is a complex question which cannot be appropriately developed within the scope of this article. However, a utilitarian approach to the criminal justice system may attribute to it the goal of crime control. 6 While the criminal justice system is undoubtedly effective in reducing crime rates to some extent, it often achieves this goal inefficiently and at a significant fiscal expense. After more than 20 years of being tough on crime, incorporating harsh sentencing guidelines, long prison terms and mandatory minimum punishments, the United States has reached the point where it may not be able to go any further in carrying out these policies. With more than 2.2 million people incarcerated in federal, state and local facilities, 7 the highest rate of imprisonment per population in the world, 8 and estimated expenses that may exceed $30,000 per year per inmate, 9 policy-makers from both sides of the political spectrum, as well as practitioners, are forced to reexamine this huge monetary investment. One of the results of these new alliances can be found in new nationwide legislation that is aimed at keeping certain categories of offenders out of the prison system. 10 While this legislation is part of the solution, its existence sup- 6. This issue will be further developed later in the article through the comparison of utilitarianism and restorative justice. 7. According to a press release published by the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics on July 27, 2003, the country s prisons, jails and juvenile facilities held 2,166,260 persons at the end of 2002, an increase in prison population of 2.6% (15,713 persons) compared to the previous year. Bureau of Justice Statistics, Press Release, U.S. Prison Population Rises 2.6 Percent During 2002 (July 27, 2003) available at (last visited Nov. 20, 2005). 8. Sara Sun Beale, Still Tough on Crime? Prospects for Restorative Justice in the United States, 2003 UTAH L. REV. 413, 415 n.10 (quoting the estimated imprisonment rate as 699 per 100,000 population). According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics Bulletin for 2003, the incarceration rate has increased to an estimated 714 per 100,000. Bureau of Justice Statistics, Press Release, U.S. Prison Population Rises 2.6 Percent During 2002 (July 27, 2003) available at /bjs/pub/press/p02pr.htm (last visited Nov. 20, 2005). One in every 109 men were sentenced prisoners under the jurisdiction of State or Federal authorities at year-end 2003 State prisons are at 16% above capacity and Federal prisons are operating at 39% above capacity. Id. 9. Darren Bush, Law and Economics of Restorative Justice: Why Restorative Justice Cannot and Should Not Be Solely About Restoration 2003 UTAH LAW REVIEW 439, at 456 (citing ROBERT COOTER & THOMAS ULEN, LAW AND ECONOMICS 46, 468 (3d ed. 2000)); Drake Bennett & Robert Kuttner, Crime and Redemption, THE AMERICAN PROSPECT, December 2003, at 2; Matthew Yglesias, The Research Wars, THE AMERICAN PROSPECT, December 2003, at 2 (quoting a slightly different estimate of approximately $20,000-$25,000 per year per inmate). 10. See Bennett & Kuttner, supra note 9, at 1 (Texas has recently passed a bill mandating that firsttime low-level drug offenders get treatment instead of prison time; Michigan passed three bills repealing the state s mandatory minimum drug laws; Colorado gave judges the discretion to put drug offenders on probation instead of prison sentences; Missouri and Delaware have reduced sentences for drug
6 354 JOURNAL OF DISPUTE RESOLUTION [Vol. 2 ports the contention that the current criminal justice system is facing a serious problem that needs to be addressed. This deficiency was well-articulated by Darren Bush: Given the decline in the value of additional years of imprisonment, it is questionable whether lengthy sentences will resolve the issue. The benefits of long-term incarceration will be outweighed by the costs under any analysis, given that it serves no deterrence purpose, increases societal costs, and leaves offenders who might otherwise be productive members of society without that ability. 11 An additional concern is the effectiveness of the justice system s response to crime and its success in preventing it. Admittedly, studies show the United States is experiencing a substantial decline in crime rates, in both violent and property offenses. 12 In part, this has to do with the massive incarceration rates and their deterrent effect. 13 However, there is a general belief among scholars that the reduction in crime is the result of other social forces independent of the punitive legislation of the past two decades, such as improvement in the economy, changes in substance abuse patterns and, some even suggest, the declining rates of marriage. 14 In other words, while prison and deterrence work to some extent, it is clear they do not work very well, and definitely not well enough. 15 To Howard Zehr, one of the forefathers of the restorative justice movement, the reasons for the ineffectiveness of prison come as no surprise. In Changing Lenses, 16 Zehr described a case in which the judge, while sentencing a young offender to 20 to 85 years in prison, told the offender, I trust that [in prison] you will forget the patterns of behavior which led to this violent offense. 17 True, it was a violent crime, but can we seriously hope the prison experience will teach this teenage offender normative patterns of behavior? As Zehr mentions, prison life teaches inmates the exact opposite. It teaches them to be obedient, but does not give them the tools to become self-governing and to take charge of their life in legitimate ways. It teaches them the virtues of manipulation and violence as means for problem solving and deprives them of the ability to cope peacefully with frustration and conflict. It is structured to dehumanize the inmates, denying them a sense of selfworth and self-respect and, in turn, the ability to respect others. 18 While one might disagree with Zehr on different aspects of the incarceration experience, few people would argue that prison is an educational institution that prepares its inmates for the normative life they will be expected to live outside its walls. Since prison is, in many cases, perceived as the only appropriate punish- offenses and low-level felonies; Arizona, Washington and Indiana reduced drug-offender sentences and are channeling their savings into treatment programs). 11. Bush, supra note 9, at See Beale, supra note 8, at As Professor Franklin Zimring of Berkeley University Law School stated: It would be astonishing if locking up 2 million people had zero effect on the crime rate. Yglesias, supra note 9, at See Beale, supra note 8, at 424; Yglesias, supra note 9, at See Yglesias, supra note 9, at HOWARD ZEHR, CHANGING LENSES: A NEW FOCUS FOR CRIME AND JUSTICE (1990). 17. Id. at Id. at
7 2005] Justifying Restorative Justice 355 ment for almost every type of crime, and since we do not send every convicted offender to life imprisonment without parole, it is surprising how little energy is invested in preparations for the day after, the time in which the incarcerated offender will reenter society. There is an abundance of legislation, media coverage and political attention focused on the question of who gets locked up and for how long, but a lot less attention is given to the question of what happens once the sentence is over. What follows is a high rate of recidivism and re-arrest, 19 which raises serious questions regarding the effectiveness of the justice system currently employed by the vast majority of countries around the world. Moreover, in some cases re-offense might even occur for the mere purpose of reentering the only world the offender knows prison. 20 As will be shown, the restorative justice theory focuses on designing a public response to crime that is open to stakeholder participation, offering a meaningful response to those most affected by the crime. While this aspect of restorative justice clearly emphasizes justice (or more accurately procedural justice 21 ) as the center of the criminal justice system, it still remains to be asked whether restorative justice can achieve utilitarian goals, such as the reduction of recidivism and enhancement of public safety. As will be shown later in this part, the answer to these questions is that restorative justice at least will not do worse, and may even do better, than the current criminal justice system regarding crime control. 3. Justice must satisfy the appearance of justice 22 One of the main concerns of the justice system is to provide the public with a fair procedure through which the questions of substantive law will be determined. In criminal law, this concern gave rise to a complex and well developed constitutional right to due process. Numerous statutes and court decisions provide criminal defendants with a detailed procedure intended to protect them from abuse of governmental power and false accusations. The presumption of innocence, the unique burden of proof imposed on the criminal accuser, rules of evidence discovery all are examples of rules designed to ensure the fairness of the process. However, the justice system is most concerned with another aspect of fairness, and that is the way it is perceived by the public. In many instances, judges cite the famous quote: justice must satisfy the appearance of justice. 23 Moreover, judges often emphasize that it is not merely of some importance but is of fundamental importance that justice should not only be done, but should mani- 19. According to a study published by the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, of nearly 300,000 released prisoners from 15 different states during 1994, 67.5% were rearrested within 3 years. Bureau of Justice Statistics, Recidivism of Prisoners Released in 1994 (June 2002) available at (last visited Dec. 1, 2005) [hereinafter Bureau of Justice Statistics]. A study of 1983 releases estimated 62.5% were rearrested. Id. 20. See ZEHR, supra note 16, at See Tom R. Tyler & Allan Lind, Procedural Justice, in HANDBOOK OF JUSTICE RESEARCH IN LAW 65 (Joseph Sanders and Lee Hamilton eds., 2001) (explaining the concept of procedural justice and providing empirical evidence in support of this approach to the concept of justice). 22. Offutt v. United States, 348 U.S. 11, 14 (1954). 23. Id. See also Mickens v. Taylor, 535 U.S. 162, 189 (2002); Republican Party v. White, 536 U.S. 765, 817 (2002); Liteky v. United States, 510 U.S. 540, 565 (1994).
8 356 JOURNAL OF DISPUTE RESOLUTION [Vol. 2 festly and undoubtedly be seen to be done. 24 Returning to the story of R., the negligent driver, it is clear that none of the people most affected by the tragic accident felt that the criminal proceedings that followed the accident contributed to a just result. In this case, one may wonder if justice had indeed been done since none of the participants perceived it as so. It is not clear that a legal process can be considered fair simply because the professionals controlling it performed their duties in accordance with the law. If the appearance of justice is indeed so fundamentally important to the fairness of the process, the absence of such an appearance should implicate a serious question as to the viability and legitimacy of the process, and should encourage the search for an alternative that may be perceived as more just. One of the main problems with searching for this kind of alternative is the vagueness of the terms justice and fairness. Do we really know what justice is? Is it enough to recognize a fair process when we see one without abstractly defining it in advance? There is no consensus on the answer to these questions, and many different paradigms have been offered for better understanding the meaning of these terms. Nevertheless, it seems that one of the identifiable problems regarding the appearance of justice in the justice system is that it is controlled solely by professionals. 25 It is these professionals who determine what is considered to be a just outcome, according to predetermined rules. Therefore, it is not surprising to find that occasionally, the non-professional participants in the process, the ones most affected by the events leading to these proceedings, experience the outcome in legal proceedings in an entirely different way. Since they have no control over the process, there is a substantial chance they will feel the process mistreated them or failed to achieve an outcome important to them. But is it true that the current justice system is not perceived as just and fair? Apparently, it seems to satisfy the appearance of justice to some extent. The question is whether that extent is satisfactory. We might be facing the same situation we faced when examining the efficiency and effectiveness of the criminal justice system it works, but not well enough. Similarly, the system is generally perceived positively, but if we assume the appearance of justice is indeed a fundamentally important component of justice, we may want to improve that appearance. Empirical studies support this conclusion. When asked to describe the degree of fairness or unfairness with which the criminal justice system treats people accused of committing a crime, 32% of the respondents in a national survey answered that the system was unfair. The great majority of respondents in the same survey were willing to concede that the system was somewhat fair, but only a minority perceived the system as very fair. 26 Under all of the different categories of respondents (sex, race, age, education, income, community type, region in the U.S. and political affiliation), there was a substantially higher percentage of people who perceived the system as unfair to some extent than those who perceived it as very fair. In other words, if the appearance of justice is as important 24. Rex v. Sussex Justices, 1 K.B. 256, 259 (1924) (emphasis added). 25. Olson & Dzur, supra note 1, at U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics Online (2003) [hereinafter Sourcebook], available at /sourcebook (last visited Dec. 1, 2005).
9 2005] Justifying Restorative Justice 357 as is often stated, the system has much to improve. As will be shown, restorative practices have much to contribute to this aspect of legal proceedings. B. Is restorative justice able to amend these deficiencies? Before examining whether restorative practices have the ability to amend the deficiencies specified above, it is important to enumerate some of the major premises of the restorative justice theory and provide a working definition for restorative practices that are based on this theory. 1. What is restorative justice? The restorative justice paradigm shifts the traditional view of crime from the violated norm to the harm caused to the individuals most affected by the crime. In CHANGING LENSES, Zehr provides a short but thorough description of what he calls the restorative lens. Zehr describes the restorative lens as the view that crime is a violation of people and relationships. It creates obligations to make things right. Justice involves the victim, the offender, and the community in a search for solutions which promote repair, reconciliation and reassurance. 27 Although this description is not flawless, it offers a clear understanding of the restorative justice paradigm. It emphasizes people rather than norms. It highlights the obligation imposed on offenders, holding them accountable for the offense they committed. It illustrates the necessity of involving the real stakeholders affected by the criminal offense in the justice process and shifts the objective of that system from punishment and the infliction of pain to repairing the harm. These are the basic principles of the restorative justice theory. One of the flaws of this description lies in the vagueness of the obligation to make things right. In fact, it is not always clear what the harm is; let alone how to amend it. 28 Furthermore, the importance attributed to the role of communities in the restorative justice theory raises the question of what constitutes a community. It is not self-evident to assume that a community always exists in urban life in the 21 st century. Another problem is the intensified focus on the victim. This may well be derived from the words of Randy Barnett, who is sometimes quoted by restorative justice theorists: Where we once saw an offense against society we now see an offense against an individual victim. In a way, it is a common sense view of crime. The armed robber did not rob society; he robbed the victim. His debt therefore, is not to society; it is to the victim ZEHR, supra note 16, at For the common answer to the question of what does it take to make things right?, see JOHN BRAITHWAITE, RESTORATIVE JUSTICE & RESPONSIVE REGULATION 11 (2002) [hereinafter BRAITHWAITE, RESTORATIVE JUSTICE] ( whatever dimensions of restoration matter to the victims, offenders and communities affected by the crime. Stakeholder deliberation determines what restoration means in a specific context. ). 29. RANDY E. BARNETT & JOHN HAGEL III, ASSESSING THE CRIMINAL: RESTITUTION, RETRIBUTION AND THE LEGAL PROCESS 363 (1977).
10 358 JOURNAL OF DISPUTE RESOLUTION [Vol. 2 However, Barnett s view does not reflect the restorative justice paradigm, but is better defined as the Restitution Approach to criminal justice. 30 Although the latter method shares with the restorative approach a strong emphasis on victim compensation, it differs from the restorative approach in calling for the abolishment of criminal law as a separate body of law. Every crime has both a public and private dimension. Instead of focusing almost solely on the offender and the public dimension and neglecting to address the private dimension of the victim, the restorative justice theory advocates for a better balance between the two. Restorative justice does not promote a system which totally focuses on victims. That is the realm of civil and tort law, which cannot use state power and punishment in to respond to crime. As of today, restorative justice practices operate as alternative processes within the criminal justice system. They are all part of the public attempt to find a justifiable, efficient and effective response to crime, and therefore should be considered as a complementary component of the criminal justice system. 2. What are restorative justice practices? The difference between the traditional criminal justice system and restorative justice dictates the use of different methods in responding to crime. In the traditional criminal justice system, the first question is whether a legal norm defining a criminal offense was violated, and if so, what is it. The second question is how do you prove who violated the law. The third question concerns the consequences of the violation and the appropriate punishment for the offender. The restorative justice paradigm follows a different path. Its starting point is the harm caused to victims and their needs in the aftermath of the offense. A victim-centered discussion begins any restorative justice practice. Then the discussion turns to the offenders and demands that they be held accountable for their wrongdoing in both dimensions of the crime: privately, towards the victim and the closely affected community; and publicly, towards society in general. 31 The proceedings are not controlled by detached professionals but rather by the people and community affected by the crime, 32 through a deliberative process facilitated by at least one trained neutral facilitator. The victim is no longer regarded merely as a witness, but is granted a substantial role in the justice system. At the same time, the of- 30. In the words of Barnett himself: I propose that [the breakdown of our system of criminal justice] could be solved by the adoption of a new paradigm of criminal justice restitution. Id. at 349. See also Conrad G. Brunk, Restorative Justice and the Philosophical Theories of Criminal Punishment, in THE SPIRITUAL ROOTS OF RESTORATIVE JUSTICE 31, 43 (Michael L. Hadley ed. 2001) (providing a summary of the restitution approach to criminal justice). 31. The theoretical concept of offender accountability will often be manifested through a wide variety of specific actions the offender undertakes in the restoration agreement, which cater to both the private and public dimensions of crime. These may include: monetary compensation to the victim, community service work, treating a substance or alcohol abuse problem, getting a job, continuing education toward the GED test or professional certification, etc. 32. Barb Toews Shenk and Howard Zehr, Ways of Knowing for a Restorative Worldview, in RESTORATIVE JUSTICE IN CONTEXT: INTERNATIONAL PRACTICE AND DIRECTIONS 257 (Weitekamp & Kerner eds. 2003) [hereinafter Shenk & Zehr]. See also D. Van Ness, Proposed Basic Principles on the Use of Restorative Justice: Recognizing the Aims and Limits of Restorative Justice, in RESTORATIVE JUSTICE AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE: COMPETING OR RECONCILABLE PARADIGMS? 157 (Von Hirsch, Roberts & Bottoms eds. 2003).
11 2005] Justifying Restorative Justice 359 fender will not be taken through the judicial process passively, but will be confronted with the full consequences of the wrongdoing, and is expected to take an active role in making amends and helping the victim and the community to heal. The most acceptable working definition for a restorative justice practice was offered by Tony Marshal and endorsed by John Braithwaite, one of the leading authorities in the field: A process whereby all the parties with a stake in a particular offense come together to resolve collectively how to deal with the aftermath of the offense and its implications for the future. 33 The purpose of the process is to restore victims, restore offenders, and restore communities in a way that all stakeholders can agree is just. 34 The questions of what must be restored and how this restoration is to be fulfilled are answered by the participants in the restorative process, as they become empowered to make these decisions on their own. After establishing a basic understanding of the restorative justice principles and the main characteristics of the way they are practiced, we may then examine how restorative practices can better deal with the deficiencies of the criminal justice system. C. How restorative justice addresses these deficiencies 1. Restorative justice and crime victims The first deficiency mentioned above concerned the fundamental disregard of crime victims in the criminal justice system. Due to this disregard, it would seem logical to assume that any alternative process which provides for some degree of victim participation would address this deficiency better than the current system. Since the restorative paradigm turns to the affected parties of the crime and brings forth their perspectives as well as the harm they have suffered individually, it seems self-evident that it has the ability to offer victims a promising and improved alternative. But this, alone, is not enough for two reasons. First, one must take into account potential risks to victims. Designing a process in which victims and offenders meet face-to-face involves an inherent risk of physical and emotional harm to the victim. There may be some reasons for an offender to try to physically hurt the victim, from revenge for being charged or arrested to an attempt to prevent the victim from testifying in court (by intimidation or physical incapacitation). But even if the risk of physical harm is neutralized by technical means in addition to the presence of a skilled facilitator (holding the restorative process in a guarded facility, seating the parties in such a way as to preclude the possibility of harming each other, etc.) there is still the risk of emotional harm to the victim revictimization. For this to occur offenders could take control over the conversation, belittle the trauma expressed by the victim, state they are not remorseful for their actions or even merely signal some disrespect towards the victim or the process by minute body gestures. All of these may cause the victim to relive the 33. BRAITHWAITE, RESTORATIVE JUSTICE, supra note 28, at John Braithwaite, A Future Where Punishment Is Marginalized: Realistic or Utopian? 46 UCLA L. REV. 1727, 1743 (1999) [hereinafter Braithwaite, Punishment].
12 360 JOURNAL OF DISPUTE RESOLUTION [Vol. 2 trauma that resulted from the first encounter with the offender, the one that led to the current meeting. Before allowing victims and their offenders to meet, one must take all necessary steps to reduce the risk of revictimization. 35 This can be achieved by professional screening of the cases referred to restorative practices, sufficient preparation of all parties partaking in the restorative process and controlling the discussion during the actual meeting by the intervention of a trained facilitator. Second, even if we can successfully minimize the risks to an acceptable level and find restorative justice does indeed offer victims a process that better addresses their concerns, one must assess whether the improvement is worth a complete change of the current justice paradigm. It may be argued (as it often is) that crime victims do not really wish to participate in the legal proceedings, but merely to be timely informed of their developments; that crime victims are dissatisfied with the current system because they perceive it as too lenient with their offenders; and most of all, that a crime victim would not want to meet face-to-face with his or her offender. It is possible that crime victims would not want to spend additional time with their offenders, let alone in a process that may lead to a mitigated sentence or the sealing of their files without a criminal conviction. In order to deal with these arguments, and ultimately answer our primary concern whether the benefit is worth the paradigm change it would be wise to observe what crime victims actually have to say on these matters. Research in this area has steadily shown that crime victims do not center their criticism on the leniency of the sentences imposed on their offenders, but rather on the precise fundamental deficiency pointed out above their inability to participate in the legal proceedings concerning the criminal acts to which they were victim. 36 This participation includes, according to studies, receiving information about their cases, a fair and respectful opportunity to be consulted with, and the recognition of all aspects of the harm they suffered, emotional as well as material. 37 Restorative processes provide victims with just that since, in part, that is 35. It may be argued that the risk of revictimization ought to be neutralized completely before allowing a face-to-face meeting between a victim and offender to occur. However, I do not believe this effort is possible. Even in the current criminal justice system, the offender may attempt to harm the victim in many different ways. Moreover, it is a well-known phenomenon that many crime victims are revictimized during the legal proceedings, not by their offender, but by the system itself. This is referred to as critogenic harm. See Mary P. Koss, Karen J. Bacher & C. Quince Hopkins, An Innovative Application of Restorative Justice to the Adjudication of Selected Sexual Offenses, in CRIME PRE- VENTION NEW APPROACHES 7 (H. Kury & J. Obergfell-Fuchs eds., 2003) ( criminal justice response often disappoints and traumatizes victims ). If both the victim and offender are prepared for the meeting, and all necessary steps are taken to minimize the risk of revictimization, beginning with the initial screening of the case, followed by the preparation process and continuing with actual control of the meeting, in addition to a professional assessment that revictimization is not likely to occur, a face-toface meeting should be enabled. 36. Heather Strang & Lawrence W. Sherman, Repairing the Harm: Victims and Restorative Justice, 2003 UTAH L. REV. 15, 18 [hereinafter Strang & Sherman]. 37. Id. at 18 (citing MIKE MAGUIRE, BURGLARY IN A DWELLING: THE OFFENSE, THE OFFENDER AND THE VICTIM (1982); LESLIE SEBBA, THIRD PARTIES: VICTIMS AND THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM (1996); JOANNA SHAPLAND ET AL., VICTIMS IN THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM (1985); Joanna Shapland, Victims and the Criminal Justice System, in FROM CRIME POLICY TO VICTIM POLICY: REORIENTING THE JUSTICE SYSTEM 210, (Ezzat A. Fattah ed., 1986); HEATHER STRANG, REPAIR OR REVENGE: VICTIMS OF RESTORATIVE JUSTICE 2-3 (2002); IRVIN WALLER & NORMAN OKIHIRO, BURGLARY: THE VICTIM AND THE PUBLIC (1978)).
13 2005] Justifying Restorative Justice 361 what they are all about. The results of Heather Strang s RISE study 38 sufficiently support this argument. In her study, Strang examined 275 cases over a five-year period, from 1995 to These cases involved property crimes committed by juvenile offenders and middle-range violent crimes committed by young adults in Canberra, Australia. These cases were disposed of randomly either by the courts, in the traditional fashion, or by a restorative justice conference. A restorative justice conference is a facilitated meeting between offenders and victims, along with each party s supporters. As mentioned above, victims want more information about the proceedings against their offenders and the outcome of those proceedings. When asked whether they were informed in good time about developments in their cases, victims responses varied greatly between the cases handled by the courts and those referred to conferences. In the former, victims were rarely told anything officially about their case when they were not required as witnesses. 40 This finding especially stands out due to the existence of specific legislation providing victims with the right to be informed of progress in the proceedings. 41 In the cases dealt with in a conference, on the other hand, all victims had the opportunity to be as involved and informed as they wished. 42 Almost all restorative processes follow the same pattern, regardless of the process-type. After the preparation stage is successfully completed, programs typically hold a meeting. In the RISE study, for example, the meeting was convened in the form of a family-group conference, but it can be held in any other forum or type of process. In this meeting, the parties are encouraged to talk about 38. Lawrence W. Sherman, Heather S. Strang & Daniel J. Woods, Recidivism Patterns in the Canberra Reintegrative Shaming Experiments (RISE) (Nov. 2000) [hereinafter RISE Final Report] (unpublished report of findings from the RISE project), available at /recidivism/report.pdf (last visited Nov. 20, 2005). See Strang & Sherman, supra note 36, at 25. See also HEATHER STRANG, REPAIR OR REVENGE: VICTIMS AND RESTORATIVE JUSTICE 63 (2002). 39. STRANG, supra note 38, at 63; Strang & Sherman, supra note 36, at Strang & Sherman, supra note 36, at See Victims of Crime Act, 1994, c. 4 (Austl.), available at /a/ /current/pdf/ pdf. The Victims of Crime Act states: 4. Governing principles In the administration of justice, the following principles are to, as far as practicable and appropriate, govern the treatment of victims: (a) a victim should be dealt with at all times in a sympathetic, constructive and reassuring way and with appropriate regard to his or her personal situation, rights and dignity; (b) a victim should be told at reasonable intervals (generally not more than 1 month) of the progress of police investigations about the relevant offense, except if the disclosure might jeopardize the investigation, and, in that case, the victim should be told accordingly; (c) a victim should be told about the charges laid against the accused and of any modification of the charges; (d) a victim should be told about any decision concerning the accused to accept a plea of guilty to a lesser charge or a guilty plea in return for a recommendation of leniency in sentencing; (e) a victim should told about of any decision not to proceed with a charge against the accused; (f) if any victim s property is held by the Territory for the purposes of investigation or evidence inconvenience to the victim should be minimized and the property returned promptly; (g) a victim should be told about the trial process and of the rights and responsibilities of witnesses; (h) a victim should be protected from unnecessary contact with the accused and defence witnesses during the course of the trial. Id. 42. Strang & Sherman, supra note 36, at
14 362 JOURNAL OF DISPUTE RESOLUTION [Vol. 2 the facts of the criminal event, share with one another how the event affected their lives, and finally work toward a written restitution agreement. 43 The victim is not only given a counseling status, but is invited to take an active role in the process and the formation of the restitution agreement. As we have seen earlier, this is far from being the case in the criminal justice system. The Australian Victims of Crime Act (Act) sets a good example of victims treatment by the justice system. In this Act, victims have a right to be told about various aspects of their case, but never to be consulted. Even in the United States Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, where the court must address any victim of a crime of violence or sexual abuse who is present... and must permit the victim to speak, the words of a victim are not part of the considerations a judge must take into account when sentencing a defendant. 44 It is apparent that restorative justice provides victims with processes that more deeply engage them than the criminal justice system. How do restorative justice practices perform with regards to victims needs to have their emotional and financial harm recognized? One of the most common ways for a person to acknowledge harming another is to apologize. This is the customary way of communicating to the other that we understand our wrongdoing, and of recognizing the harm done to the other. In the RISE study, 86% of the victims who attended a restorative justice conference received apologies from their offenders. 45 In court, the percentage was only 16% of the victims. 46 The difference speaks for itself. 47 But what about the financial harm caused to the victim? As a number of studies show, here too, restorative justice tends to perform better than the criminal justice system. A vast majority of restorative processes results in a restitution agreement, in which offenders undertake to compensate their victims for their monetary losses. Studies show that these agreements enjoy a significantly higher compliance rate by offenders than court-ordered restitution decrees. 48 It seems, then, that restorative justice provides crime victims with a process that answers their most important needs: for participation, involvement and acknowledgement. The problem is, however, that this conclusion rests on the assumption that victims want to participate in restorative processes and, in fact, do 43. Mark S. Umbreit, FACT SHEET: VICTIM-OFFENDER MEDIATION, RESTORATIVE JUSTICE THROUGH DIALOGUE, 1 (1997) [hereinafter Umbreit, FACT SHEET], /Resources/Documents/cumb97d.pdf See also Leena Kurki, Evaluating Restorative Justice Practices, in RESTORATIVE JUSTICE AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE: COMPETING OR RECONCILABLE PARADIGMS? 293, (Andrew Von Hirsch et al. eds., 2003). 44. FED. R. CRIM. P. 32(i)(4)(B) (2000). 45. RISE Final Report, supra note Id. 47. It is important to bear in mind, however, that not all apologies are authentic or sincere, and not all include the recognition of any kind of culpability on the part of the apologizing person. See generally Jonathan R. Cohen, Advising Clients to Apologize, 72 S. CAL. L. REV (1999); Erin Ann O Hara & Douglas Yarn, On Apology and Consilience, 77 WASH. L. REV (2002); Lee Taft, Apology Subverted: The Commodification of Apology, 109 YALE L.J (2000) (all three articles analyze the role of apology in the legal system, and identify and suggest different types of apologies for various functions in the legal system). 48. Strang & Sherman, supra note 36, at 34; Jeff Latimer & Steven Kleinknecht, The Effects of Restorative Justice Programming: A Review of the Empirical (Jan. 2000) (unpublished research review), available at (stating the findings of different studies, among them a 1994 study that found a restitution completion rate of 81% in restorative justice compared to only 58% in court).
15 2005] Justifying Restorative Justice 363 partake in these proceedings. As it turns out, the merits of this assumption may not be valid. On one hand, studies point out a general willingness in the public, and among crime victims, to consider victim offender mediation in cases of nonviolent juvenile offenders. 49 Interestingly, some studies show a correlation between the victims emotional response to the crime and their willingness to meet their offenders: the more victims feel emotionally upset by the offense, the more likely they are to agree to meet their offenders and to be open to reparation by the offender. 50 On the other hand, in practice, only a minority of victims both agree to, and actually participate in, the process. 51 In addition, restorative justice practitioners also experience difficulties when introducing this alternative process to crime victims. 52 If that is the case, then one might ask, why bother? If victims do not wish to participate in restorative processes, shouldn t it be inferred that despite its great promise to victims, restorative justice is simply not appealing enough for them? Encountering practical difficulties in introducing a new paradigm of justice to the public is not surprising at all and should not deter innovative efforts to improve our criminal justice system. First, the studies cited above show the public at large, and crime victims in particular are generally supportive of these innovations. But more importantly, if anything, these studies show that victims at least want to be asked for their preferences, and that they value being given the option to choose 49. See Mark S. Umbreit, Restorative Justice Through Victim-Offender Mediation: A Multi-Site Assessment, W. CRIMINOLOGY REV. (1998) [hereinafter Umbreit, Victim-Offender Mediation], available at /umbreit.html (citing a study by VORP, Orange County, California the largest victim-offender mediation program in North America, with over 1,000 referrals a year that found that 75 percent of victims of minor property and personal offenses were interested in participating in the mediation process. Umbreit then cites two other studies, performed by him, that found that 70 percent of victims who were never even referred to mediation indicated their interest in meeting with the juvenile offender if the opportunity were presented to them, and that 82 percent of citizens (many of whom were crime victims) indicated that he or she would be likely to consider participating in a mediation session with a juvenile or young adult offender if he or she were the victim of a nonviolent property crime ). See also Strang & Sherman, supra note 36, at 18 (citing victim surveys conducted in Britain, the later of which found that over 40% of British crime victims surveyed said they would have accepted the opportunity to meet their offender, and almost 60% of victims said they would have been willing to accept a reparative activity from their offender ). 50. Strang & Sherman, supra note 36, at See Carolyn Hoyle, Securing Restorative Justice for the Non-Participating Victim, in NEW VISIONS OF CRIME VICTIMS 97, 103 (Carolyn Hoyle & Richard P. Young eds., 2002) (describing the findings of a four-year research project that examined three restorative practices in England, where over 80% of the cases, in which there had been a victim, that victim did not attend the restorative process). 52. See Susan M. Olson & Albert W. Dzur, Revisiting Informal Justice: Restorative Justice and Democratic Professionalism, 38 LAW & SOC Y REV. 139, 169 (2004) (describing difficulties on the part of restorative justice practitioners in the Salt Lake City Passages program to recruit community volunteers). In Polk County, Iowa, for instance, every crime victim is offered the opportunity to confront his or her offender as part of a Victim Offender Reconciliation Program (VORP). During the years nearly 9,000 crime victims were given the opportunity to participate in a VORP, but only slightly over 1,500 were actually held, equaling roughly 17% of all cases. Admittedly, this is not solely due to lack of victim participation, since many other factors influence the decision to perform a VORP; however, uninterested victims are among the most dominant factors to affect this outcome. Interview with David Lerman, Dir., Milwaukee County Dist. Attorney s Office Restorative Justice Program; interview with Fred Gaye, Dir., Polk County Attorney s Office Restorative Justice Center, in Des Moines, Iowa; interview with Vicki Shoap, Program Coordinator, 31st Judicial Dist. Circuit Court Restorative Justice Program, Office of Dispute Resolution, Prince William County, Manassas, Va. (all interviews on file with author).
16 364 JOURNAL OF DISPUTE RESOLUTION [Vol. 2 whether or not to participate in the public response to the criminal act that personally affected them. The mere act of asking for their opinion provides an opportunity for crime victims to experience a sense of participation in the proceedings and gain the minimal assurance that the offender and justice system recognize their personal harm. For those who choose to partake in the restorative process, the outcome in the vast majority of cases succeeds in responding to the victims main concerns Efficiency and effectiveness in restorative processes As mentioned previously, utilitarianists may depend on the criminal justice system to reduce crime and ensure public safety. Based on the data gathered in recent years, serious doubts arise regarding the effectiveness of our system in achieving this goal. 54 Moreover, not only are the results of combating crime insufficient, but they come at a great monetary cost. Since the criminal justice system is a public mechanism, funded by the public and created for the welfare of the public, it is our obligation as citizens to demand its improvement and explore alternatives that have the potential to perform better both in reducing crime and, eventually, the resources and funding they require. Restorative justice offers such an alternative. Admittedly, this argument is somewhat presumptuous and lacks a well-based empirical foundation. Nonetheless, restorative justice consists of certain elements that enhance its ability to achieve improved results in reducing crime, and it does so relatively efficiently. In addition, while the empirical data gathered to date does not provide conclusive evidence, it does show the potential that restorative justice has to achieve these goals. Restorative processes can be implemented during any stage of the criminal process, in a wide range of offenses, and as such are good candidates for institutionalization and general application. However, among the main determinative prerequisite factors for the initiation of such a process are the offender s willingness to concede wrongdoing on his or her part, 55 and the parties agreement to participate in the process. One may argue that this narrows down the number of cases that can even be initially considered for restorative justice to a marginalized number of cases. If so, it may not matter whether restorative processes are effective and efficient since they cannot be applied to the vast majority of cases in the criminal justice system. Such marginalization of restorative processes will deem them irrelevant to any attempts at improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the criminal justice system. As will be shown, this argument is not valid. Even with their preconditions, restorative processes are extremely relevant to this analysis. A close examination of the way cases are disposed of in the justice system will prove the above argument wrong. It is not a new figure, and it is definitely not surprising, that 95% of all criminal cases in federal and state courts in the 53. Strang & Sherman, supra note 36, at 27-28; Latimer & Kleinknecht, supra note 48, at 14 (citing a study that found 83% of victims in conference cases versus 8% of victims in court cases, received both reparation and an apology from the offender ). 54. See infra part II.a This may or may not require entering a guilty plea in court or admitting to the crime before a police officer, depending on the jurisdiction and the different restorative justice programs.
17 2005] Justifying Restorative Justice 365 United States result in guilty pleas, usually by plea-bargain. 56 This figure is important to the examination of the relevancy of restorative justice to the criminal justice system in two ways. First, it indicates that in almost all cases, the offender is willing to assume responsibility for his or her behavior (by pleading guilty), fulfilling the initial precondition for a restorative process. Second, it negates the general assumption that disposition of criminal cases is not a matter for discussion and negotiation, but rather a matter for adjudication. Plea-bargaining, the primary means of disposing criminal cases, is all about negotiation, in which the subject of discussion is both the specific circumstances of the offense and the appropriate way of concluding the case. In restorative processes, the circumstances of the offense are discussed but are not subject to negotiation, but the resolution of the case is subject to negotiation between the parties, just as in plea-bargaining. The one exception is that a neutral third party facilitates the resolution in restorative processes. The second precondition for the initiation of a restorative process the parties consent to participate poses a more difficult problem. One of the greatest sources of power in the criminal justice system is that it does not require the consent of any party. In appropriate cases, the police will investigate a crime irrespective of the victim s wish, and offenders can be indicted and tried despite the victim s efforts to prevent it. This feature of the criminal justice system enables it to be applicable to all cases, as a systematic and well-defined response to crime. This feature does not exist in restorative practices, leaving them vulnerable to the changing whims of individual parties. For this reason, I do not contend that restorative justice should entirely replace the current system. Instead, I call for its implementation as the process of first-resort in appropriate cases 57 (which in my view consist of a substantial number of cases in the criminal justice system). This would leave the current system to deal with all other cases as the default process. It is important to note that in cases of non-cooperative victims and interested offenders, restorative justice practitioners are developing innovative solutions, such as the use of surrogate victims or community members, 58 thus mitigating to 56. BUREAU OF JUSTICE STATISTICS, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, COMPENDIUM OF FEDERAL JUSTICE STATISTICS, (2003) available at Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice, STATE COURT SENTENCING OF CONVICTED FELONS, (2003), available at The question of identifying appropriate cases for restorative justice programs is not a simple one and tends to differ from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. For instance, in Polk County, Iowa, all crime victims are given the opportunity to meet their offender, regardless of the type of offense committed. See Fred Gaye, supra note 52. In many other jurisdictions, restorative processes are applied only to non-violent property offenses or only to juvenile delinquency. In practice today, the scope of appropriate cases is determined locally and incorporates the special needs and characteristics of each different jurisdiction. It is important to note, however, that restorative justice has its limitations. Not all cases or offenders are capable of participating in these deliberative-type processes and there may be certain categories of crime in which the application of a restorative process may be impractical or inappropriate. The question of the limits of restorative justice is an important one one that requires much discussion which extends beyond the scope of this article. On this subject, see Barbara Hudson, Restorative Justice and Gendered Violence: Diversion or Effective Justice? 42 BRIT. J. CRIMINOLOGY 616 (2002) (exploring the limitations of restorative justice, especially in regard to domestic violence and sexual assault). See also BRAITHWAITE, RESTORATIVE JUSTICE, supra note 28, at See The Report of the Dept. of Admin., Milwaukee County Dist. Attorney s Office, Restorative Justice Coordinator Report (unpublished report made pursuant to WIS. STAT (3) (2003), submitted February 13, 2004, at p. 1., on file with author) (introducing Modified Conferences con-
18 366 JOURNAL OF DISPUTE RESOLUTION [Vol. 2 some extent the practical implications of this vulnerability. In addition, a multistate study conducted by Umbreit in 1994 found that 72% of juvenile offenders tried by the court indicated they would have chosen to participate in mediation had they been given the opportunity. 59 This too, is an indicator that the inclusion of restorative justice within our criminal justice system has the potential of dealing with a significant number of cases, thereby affecting the entire system. Is restorative justice effective? One of the main factors in determining the answer to this question is the rate in which known offenders go back to offending. 60 As mentioned before, studies that followed released inmates for a measured length of time (usually, between one to three years) revealed relatively high rates of re-offense and re-arrests due to continued criminal activity. 61 Hypothetically, if it can be proven that restorative processes achieve lower recidivism rates, it may be concluded that they are more effective in reducing crime than the current system. The problem is, however, that in practice this is difficult to prove due to different definitions of recidivism 62 and the many variables that influence reoffense rates. 63 In addition, restorative processes are currently applied to relatively small numbers of offenders, leaving researchers with a limited population in which every individual offender has significant influence on the research outcome. Therefore, the results described here should be taken with caution. Currently, most empirical studies conducted in this area show that restorative processes have a positive effect on recidivism rates. However, it is important to note that some studies do not share this conclusion and, of those, some even show an increase in recidivism rates. One of the better-known examples for this last result is the increase in offending by drunk drivers found in the RISE study (by six crimes per 100 offenders per year.) 64 On the other hand, the same study found a substantial drop in offending rates by violent offenders (by 38 crimes per 100 ducted in specific circumstances where the victim is not interested in participating or there is no identifiable victim). 59. Umbreit, Victim-Offender Mediation, supra note See John J. DiIulio, Jr., Rethinking the Criminal Justice System: Toward a New Paradigm, in PERFORMANCE MEASURES FOR THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM: DISCUSSION PAPERS FROM THE BJS- PRINCETON PROJECT 1, 11 (1993), available at See Bureau of Justice Statistics, supra note For example, recidivism can be defined only as a re-conviction, or include a re-arrest with no conviction disposition available on the post-release criminal history record or even the revocation of probation or post-prison supervision. U.S. SENTENCING COMM N, MEASURING RECIDIVISM: THE CRIMINAL HISTORY COMPUTATION OF THE FEDERAL SENTENCING GUIDELINES 4-5 (2004), available at Such as: age and gender of offender, race and ethnicity, employment status, education attainment, marital status and illicit drug use. See id at RISE Final Report, supra note 38, at 13. There are a few factors that offer a partial explanation for this finding. The first, brought by Sherman, Strang and Woods, in page 14 of the report, is that drivers licenses are usually suspended in court proceedings whereas restorative conferences do not have the power to do this. Id. at 14. Another explanation, provided by Braithwaite, is that while the conferences dealt with the specific crime of drinking and driving, they did not confront the underlying drinking problem. BRAITHWAITE, RESTORATIVE JUSTICE, supra note 28, at 62. In my opinion, there is another plausible explanation: the lack of a victim. In these cases, the offenders were detected by the police by random breath testing. Research shows a certain relation between a face-to-face meeting of victims and offenders and a drop in recidivism and compliance rates. See Hoyle, supra note 51, at 112 (finding that offenders were slightly more likely to fulfill the agreement when they have met the victim ).
19 2005] Justifying Restorative Justice 367 offenders per year.) 65 In any case, even if not considered to be solid proof of the effectiveness of restorative processes, the cumulative effect of the recidivism studies in the area of restorative processes provides a strong indication of the potential of these processes. For example, a meta-analysis conducted by Umbreit, aimed at searching for evidence that VOM [victim offender mediation] participation is related to a decrease in the prevalence or severity of subsequent delinquent behavior, 66 found a clear relationship between VOM participation and subsequent delinquent behavior. 67 According to this meta-analysis, after neutralizing the differences in definition of recidivism among the analyzed studies and other relevant variables, VOM participants were found to re-offend at a rate varying between 9% to nearly 27% lower than that of non-participants. 68 Other studies show a reduction of approximately 20% in recidivism rates for offenders who participated in different types of restorative processes, although some findings demonstrate smaller differences and others differences reaching as high as a 38% reduction in recidivism. 69 In addition, many of these studies found that in cases where participants in restorative processes did re-offend, this involved less serious offenses than those committed by non-participants. 70 This data is important for two reasons: First, even a 9% reduction in recidivism rates is a substantial improvement and should not be taken lightly. Second, the fact that numerous studies, analyzing different programs in different countries, all find a certain improvement in recidivism rates among participants of restorative processes shows that applying a new paradigm of justice does not risk endangering the public by irresponsible experimentation with potentially dangerous people. On the contrary, it shows that this new paradigm consists of correct and useful measures, which perhaps require additional honing but are definitely worth working on. Toews and Zehr argue that one of the most fundamental elements of justice is achieved by giving meaning to the actions taken in response to crime. 71 This meaning must be constructed from the perspectives and experiences of those most affected: victim, offender and perhaps community members. 72 Since this notion is so fundamental to restorative practices, it should not come as a surprise 65. RISE Final Report, supra note 38, at William. R. Nugent, Mona Williams and Mark S. Umbreit, Participation in Victim Offender Mediation and the Prevalence and Severity of Subsequent Delinquent Behavior: A Meta-Analysis, 2003 UTAH L. REV. 137, Id. at Id. (during the first six months after involvement in VOM, participants recidivate at a rate nearly 27% lower than non-participants. After thirty months, the reduction in recidivism rate goes down to 9%). 69. Mark S. Umbreit, Robert B. Coates & Betty Vos, The Impact of Restorative Justice Conferencing: A Review of 63 Empirical Studies in 5 Countries (May 1, 2002) [hereinafter Umbreit, Conferencing], at 02.pdf. See also BRAITHWAITE, RESTORATIVE JUSTICE, supra note 28, at (describing a particularly interesting study by Michael Little who examined the effects of applying restorative processes to persistent juvenile offenders in Kent, England. Little found a statistically significant reduction in rearrest during two years of follow-up after the application of a multisystemic approach that involved a family group conference, joint and heightened supervision by police and social services staff, and improved assessment combined with an individual treatment plan and mentoring by a young volunteer ). 70. Umbreit, Conferencing, supra note 69, at Shenk & Zehr, supra note 32, at Id.
20 368 JOURNAL OF DISPUTE RESOLUTION [Vol. 2 that restorative justice has the potential to reduce recidivism rates. In the criminal justice system, offenders are taken through the system without requiring them to take any action at all, even when they plead guilty. Moreover, the current system encourages offenders not to assume responsibility (since the high burden of proof is entirely on the prosecution) and to remain as passive (and often as quiet) as possible. As a result, many defendants do not find their trial to be a meaningful event, but rather a detached occurrence, unrelated to them, run by lawyers and judges. Detached and unrelated events have little effect on the way people perceive themselves and the morality of their actions. If most offenders are not engaged in a process that challenges their current perceptions and encourages them to reevaluate their own behavior, what would prevent them from going back to committing the same actions in the future, once they get the chance? In restorative practices, the offenders are active participants in the process. They are expected to tell their stories, answer questions, explain their motives, and most of all listen to the victim and community members and agree on a way they will help repair the harm they caused. Through offenders active participation, restorative processes are given meaning. It is this unique meaning that raises the hope that participating offenders might be less likely to commit further crimes in the future. 73 Is restorative justice cost-efficient and time-efficient? As with recidivism studies, it is difficult to provide conclusive data supporting a determination regarding the cost-effectiveness of restorative processes. One of the main reasons for this difficulty is that these programs, when found, are relatively small, therefore having a marginal effect on the criminal justice system. Costs and recourses needed to support programs of this sort tend to vary greatly, depending on the number of cases they are required to handle, the amount of time spent on each case and the logistical structure of each individual program. On the other hand, I believe restorative justice may have the potential to reduce costs while, as shown above, improving the effectiveness of the public response to crime. The first way in which restorative processes can help improve the efficiency of the criminal justice system is by diverting all appropriate cases away from the standard court proceedings. By doing so, all costs incurred during those court proceedings, i.e. judicial and prosecutorial time and resources, the costs of grandjury convening, etc., are altogether avoided. Admittedly, the restorative process itself requires certain expenses, but those are often substantially lower. For exam- 73. A study aimed at finding a connection between increased respect for law enforcement agencies and recidivism rates sets a good example in support of my argument. Lawrence W. Sherman, Heather Strang & Daniel J. Woods, Captains of Restorative Justice: Experience, Legitimacy and Recidivism by Type of Offence, in RESTORATIVE JUSTICE IN CONTEXT, INTERNATIONAL PRACTICE AND DIRECTIONS 229 (Elmar G.M. Weitekamp & Kerner eds., 2003). The results of the study examined different types of offenses. Id. Drunk driving offenders, randomly assigned either to court or a restorative justice conference, were followed for a period of two to four years. Id. The study found that the average risk of repeat offending for offenders reporting increased respect for police was less than half that for offenders who came away from the legal process reporting no change or a decrease in their respect for police. Id. at 242. A previous study, conducted by Strang, showed that restorative justice conferences are far more effective than courts in producing increased respect for police. Id. at 237. This increase in respect for a law enforcement agency is in fact an increase in the perceived legitimacy of the criminal justice system, which is an important factor in furthering compliance with the law. Id. This is a result of a process that manages to engage offenders in reassessing their values and therefore has the power to influence its participants in positive ways.
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