Introduction to Restorative Justice

Restorative justice maintains that those who have a stake in a specific offense must be involved to the extent possible. When guided by evidence-based practices, they can collectively identify and address harms, needs, and obligations in order to heal and put things as right as possible.

Restorative Justice practices are characterized by:

1. Encounter : Creates opportunity for victims, offenders and community members to meet to discuss the crime and its harm
   
2. Amends : Expects offenders to take steps to repair the harm they have caused
   
3. Reintegration : Seeks to restore victims as well as offenders to whole, contributing members of society
   
4. Inclusion : Provides opportunities for all stakeholders to collaborate in creating resolution

Instead of asking these questions:

• What law was broken?
• Who broke the law?
• How are we going to punish them?

We should be asking these questions:

• Who was harmed?
• How will the harm be repaired?
• Who is responsible for repairing the harm?

This social discipline window created by Ted Wachtel describes how more positive behavior changes can be made when working WITH offenders rather than doing things FOR or TO them.