How Restorative Justice Can Help Heal

Crime, by definition, is the breaking of a law as established by the governing bodies of society. Endemic in these laws are punishments deemed appropriate to the particular crime. The criminal justice system is primarily focused on the punishment part of holding an offender responsible for committing crimes. This focus on the particular law that was broken often leaves the victim and the harms the victim experienced out of the process. Sure, the courts give victims, or their families, opportunities to speak, but the law that was broken, not the harms to the victim, are central to the process of the justice system. 

The focus of restorative justice is on the harm to the victims. This means identifying the particular harms, whether financial, emotional, physical, or psychological, and focusing on the obligations that have resulted because of these harms. Restorative justice is not intended to replace the responsibilities of the justice system in punishing crime, but it is focused on how to restore the victim and community to a pre-offense condition, as much as possible, and how to engage the offender in accepting responsibility to right those wrongs. 

Defining what it means to right wrongs is challenging in many situations. Some wrongs can never "be made right." Some things can never be restored. But by engaging the victim, or victim's family, in the process those wronged have a voice in defining what it means to make things right. When an offender is engaged in this process and he is given an opportunity to apologize, answer questions, and take ownership of his behavior, healing for both the victim and offender will usually follow.

From an offender's point of view, I see prison serving its function of punishment, but it provides no opportunity to make things right with and for my victim. For me, the most important part of healing my own brokenness is working to heal the harms I've done. This is why I have a keen interest in restorative justice.