IBARJI

BRIEF HISTORY OF RESTORATIVE JUSTICE IN ILLINOIS

Throughout the 1990's, the Federal Government's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention initiated a collaborative effort to develop new strategies to help the Nation address and control juvenile crime and improve the juvenile justice system. The resulting Balanced and Restorative Justice approach (BARJ) was largely stimulated by the growing concern for violent juvenile crime and the lack of confidence in the traditional punishment approach for dealing with harmful behavior. In 1998, OJJDP published its Guide for Implementing the Balanced and Restorative Justice Model which became an important resource for many states to review and evaluate the implementation of restorative justice activities in their jurisdiction. The BARJ approach emphasized that the focus of attention should not be limited to the offender; rather the victim and community are to be included as equal stakeholders in the pursuit of justice.

In the late 1990's, the State of Illinois was one of seven states chosen by OJJDP to participate in the BARJ Special Emphasis State Project. A core group of Illinois juvenile justice practitioners and community members attended these conferences to receive training and technical support about BARJ. Simultaneously and somewhat independently, a number of restorative justice programs and conferences were being implemented across the state by various justice system, church, school, university and victim advocates and workers. In 1998, the State of Illinois formally acknowledged its commitment to BARJ by revising its Juvenile Court Act to include a purpose and policy statement reflecting the core BARJ principles of:

protection of the community
hold offenders accountable (to victim and community)
equip offenders with competencies to live responsibly and productively

While the passage of the Juvenile Court Reform Act represents a key development for Illinois, it is difficult to share a history of restorative justice in Illinois without going back to some of the early sources of restorative justice. Throughout history, a significant number of diverse cultures, documents, and writings evidence the practice of restorative justice. For example, that the Code of Hammurabi (circa 1780 BC) is one of the first documents describing the need for payment of restitution by violators of community rules. This practice recognizes that justice is not served until the offender is held accountable by repaying the victim in order to help repair the harm or loss experienced by the victim. Recognizing the many needs of victims during the past 30 years, legislators and policymakers recently have significantly expanded the rights and treatment of victims of crime. As noted, victims are a key stakeholder in the BARJ approach. Illinois has passed legislation listing rights for victims of violent crime and several national victim rights organizations promote the importance of providing support and resources to victims. Like the BARJ approach, these organizations advocate that "Justice is not served until Victims are served." (National and state websites for victim information: www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc and www.IllinoisAttorneyGeneral.gov )

In addition to holding the offender accountable to the victim and community, the BARJ principle of developing competencies rather than invoking purely punitive practices has numerous historical precedents in Illinois. A document from Ogle County dating back to 1861 written to the Chairman and members of the "Honorable Board of Supervisors" from the "Grand Jurors selected and sworn for and in behalf of the County of Ogle" recommends the "establishment of a Reform School or some other means whereby the young and inexperienced in crime may be reformed and restored to usefulness and respectability.". It is noteworthy that Cook County is the site of the nation's first Juvenile Court (1899) as a result of such early social justice reformers as Lucy Flower, Julia Lathrop and Jane Addams who all advocated for individualized treatment of young offenders involving rehabilitation rather than punishment as was the practice for adult offenders.

During the past decade, BARJ and its emphasis on restorative justice principles began to receive greater attention throughout Illinois. Frustrations with crime rates; overcrowded and in-effective jails, detention centers and prisons; unresponsive justice system interventions; disproportionate minority confinement issues all helped to fuel the growing belief that crime should be understood as "harms done that are in need of repair" instead of a laws broken and offenders in need of punishment (Retributive Justice vs. Restorative Justice see Howard Zehr's Little Book of Restorative Justice). Consequently, there has been an increasing appreciation of the value that when communities are provided with meaningful opportunities to restore both victims and offenders who have been affected by crime, the community becomes a safer and more desirable place to live and work.

In November of 1997, a collaboration of individuals from various community, faith-based and governmental organizations across the state met and created "Restorative Justice for Illinois ". The organization's goals included:

Promoting understanding of Restorative Justice throughout the state;
Encouraging dialogue about the concept and how to implement it in Illinois ;
Increasing participation of all affected by crime in the justice process; and
Highlighting programs that promote and implement restorative justice in Illinois .

Restorative Justice for Illinois organized four one-day summits throughout Illinois, and two statewide conferences from 1998 through 2000. Speakers from around the country came to share restorative justice experiences and practices that were successful in other states. These events resulted in significant statewide interest in restorative justice, and Governor George Ryan proclaimed September 7-8, 2000 as "Restorative Justice Days" in Illinois.

FORMATION OF ILLINOIS BARJ INITIATIVE (IBARJI)

As the BARJ movement in Illinois and across the U.S. gained momentum, a diverse group of approximately 30 statewide juvenile justice practitioners and community organization members met in Bloomington in November 2002 to develop a strategy to further support statewide implementation of restorative justice. Out of that meeting came an idea for a statewide balanced and restorative justice "summit." In order to attract a diverse "interest area" and geographical representation, participants were invited from five regional areas of the state (Cook County; Collar Counties; North, Central and South) and eight different interest areas.

In September 2003, a three day Illinois BARJ Summit took place in Springfield and attracted more than 140 participants, including the Chief Justice of the Illinois Supreme Court and nationally recognized BARJ leaders. This transformational event was made possible by a collaborative effort between the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority (ICJIA) and BARJ champions from around the state, and with financial support from ICJIA (Juvenile Accountability Block Grant), the Office of the Illinois State's Attorney's Appellate Prosecutor, Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts, Lutheran Social Services of Illinois, Annie E. Casey Foundation, the National BARJ Project at Florida Atlantic University, and the Illinois Probation and Court Services Association. The primary Summit goal was to provide opportunities for a very diverse group of individuals from community and government settings across the state to create a strategy to promote local development and implementation of BARJ practices, consistent with the purpose and policy statement of the Illinois Juvenile Justice Reform Act.

Following the Summit, the geographically and professionally diverse individuals that had worked for many months to promote and implement the Summit , along with new colleagues, evolved into the Illinois BARJ Initiative (IBARJI).

Since that time, the IBARJI has continued to support local BARJ initiatives around Illinois, including the formation of the Southern Illinois BARJ (SILBARJ) project, and regional conferences and summits in: Lee and Ogle Counties of the northern region; and Champaign County including participants from Champaign, Ford, McLean, Sangamon, and Vermilion Counties in the central region.

The IBARJI has remained a collaboration that is representative of judges, state's attorneys, defense attorneys, probation, corrections, governmental organizations, community and faith-based organizations, community members, schools, victim advocates, and former offenders.

In March 2005, the IBARJI collaborative worked with the ICJIA in an advisory capacity as they implemented the "Juvenile Justice in Illinois: Implementing Restorative Practices in Your Community " conference in Springfield to highlight several restorative justice practices in use in Illinois. During late 2005 and in 2006, ICJIA, supported by Juvenile Block Grant funding hosted several trainings on victim offender dialogue, family group conferencing, and peacemaking circles across the state. Several IBARJI members were among the trainers for those trainings.

In 2005, the IBARJI created the Illinois BARJ Project (IBARJP), a 501(c)3, as a tool for fund-raising and other BARJ related organizational activities. In 2006, the IBARJP joined the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation's Models for Change Initiative and is now funded to provide consultation and training to the five Models for Change sites in Illinois. More information about this initiative can be found at www.ModelsforChange.net .

At this time, there are many creative, progressive juvenile justice initiatives in Illinois that are consistent with or that make use of BARJ principles. These include: Disproportionate Minority Contact (DMC), Redeploy Illinois (RI), Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI), the Juvenile Justice Initiative (JJI) as well as the newly organized Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice (formerly the Juvenile Division of the Illinois Department of Corrections). As a result of the concurrent development of these initiatives, a critical mass now exists in Illinois for substantial juvenile justice reform.

The IBARJI Coordinating Council meets every other month (even months) on the second Thursday in Paxton from 9:30 am until 2 pm. Those interested in becoming active in this statewide Initiative are welcome. For further information, contact Sally Wolf at sallywolf@ibarji.org .