Restorative Justice Begins with Understanding

Guest Post by Shawn England #214964 

In order to make Restorative Justice a successful enterprise it is necessary to understand the nature of those members of society who have broken the law. A significant number of offenders come from the lowest economic strata of society. Poverty on a large scale breeds a mindset, a feeling of futility, that leads to the idea that crime is the only way out of that brutal, purposeless world. These offenders often have no socialization during their formative years; no mother or father providing the foundational behaviors that are necessary for a person to be successful in society. This leads to a dis-integration of the offender with the community. 

For many years the correctional institutions touted "rehabilitation" as the primary purpose of their existence. This was admirable and for a long time an effective strategy in the struggle against the criminal impulse present within a small segment of society. By providing education and programs designed to re-orient the offenders, recidivism was kept low and the prison populations were kept manageable. That worked when the average offender was a member of society who actively chose to step outside the bounds of acceptable behavior; it is less effective when the offenders begin life outside of those bounds.

Today the correctional system is overworked by the influx of young people who are disconnected from any comprehension of what it means to be obligated to conform to any societal contract. For many of this new generation of criminals the motivation that lays behind their offense is a lack of empathy engendered by a life on the ragged edge of society. For many there is no sense of community or connection to another. There is no foundation of behavior to impede their actions, so they see no reason to refrain from "doing what they want."

What this boils down to is that the old model of rehabilitation will not work because there was no habilitation to begin with. It has become necessary to socialize--or habilitate--these men in order to prepare them for re-integration into a society they have never felt a part of. If there are segments of society that are never taught to trust police officers as children, how can they be punished for not trusting them as adults? If a person is never taught that it is not okay to steal--and in some cases taught that stealing is just "gettin' down"--how can those people ever expect to truly integrate into society? The basic skills of interpersonal communication, critical thinking, and conflict resolution are often foreign concepts to these new "criminals."

In a society that is predominantly white middle class suburbanites, suddenly learning that there are segments of your society that don't feel connected can be difficult. It is likely that the majority of the population wishes to see all people succeed and flourish; however, accepting a responsible role in that flourishing can be daunting. It calls for a commitment to helping those invisible people who live far below the poverty line, in places most don't like to believe exist in the United States of America. I was born and raised there, so trust me, they do. They are ugly, violent places where a safe place to sleep is not guaranteed and a meal is truly a blessing. 

Restorative Justice practices can provide the habilitation that these people need and help them succeed upon their release from prison. By instituting programs like Chance for Life, Thinking for a Change, Bridges, and others, the Department of Corrections has begun the first steps to a system that enables the offender to succeed upon their re-entry. This success is accomplished by providing the social skills and habilitation that so many of the offenders lack when they are first incarcerated. More needs to be done, ideally the Department should institute mandatory classes in morality and ethical behavior that will constitute a major portion of the offender's time. These classes should begin when the offender enters prison and continue until the offender is released. Only by instilling morals and ethical behaviors can a person truly be rehabilitated and become a productive member of society.