Restorative justice is a new approach to rehabilitating criminals

In my last column, I discussed the issue of criminal behavior among young men in our community and stressed the need to intervene early in their lives if we want to reduce the chances of them taking the wrong path as they grow into adulthood.

I received some feedback from that column from a reader who pointed out that there are also programs being experimented with in some prisons that try to reach convicted criminals after they have been sentenced, specifically programs designed to teach them the concept of empathy.

A number of programs have been tested in criminal justice systems around the world with the goal of teaching criminals to take ownership of the consequences of the crimes they commit and to make amends to their victims whenever possible. One such program, which has become fairly widely used in Europe and is staring to gain a foothold in some places here in the US, is really a reimagining of the whole concept of prisoner rehabilitation called “restorative justice.”

While traditional criminal justice systems focus on convicting and punishing criminals for their offenses, restorative justice focuses on both the victim of the crime and the one who committed it. Criminals and their victims are brought together under this system to identify and acknowledge the suffering the crime has caused and to set goals that seek to address that suffering directly.

The data suggests that criminals are significantly less likely to commit further crimes after their release from prison under a restorative justice system rather than under a traditional penal system. Having to look a victim in the eye and listen to them detail the harm that was caused by a crime seems to get through to convicted criminals in a unique way, a way that yields tangible results.

There are benefits to the system for the victims of crimes as well. Not only do they have the opportunity to confront those who harmed them, there is also an emphasis on making restitution to the victim. That restitution could be monetary or it could involve other direct actions taken by the offender, such as community service.

When the criminal and the crime victim communicate with each other in this way there can be other benefits to the process. A detailed exploration of the harm caused by a crime to its victim and the community overall can help to illuminate the circumstances that gave rise to criminal behavior, which might allow ideas for preventative measures to emerge from the discussions.

Restorative justice is a radically different way of looking at the way society reacts to criminal behavior, and it will be a hard sell to people who believe we have to be “tough on crime” and make prison time unpleasant. To them this will sound like feel-good liberal nonsense that ignores the reality that most criminals are just bad people who have no interest in owning the consequences of their behavior.

But before we dismiss the idea of restorative justice, we should look at the results it produces compared to the traditional crime-and-punishment model we are so familiar with. A system that is focused on making restitution to crime victims and has been shown to reduce the rate of recidivism seems like it bears strong consideration for our local penal system.

Perhaps we need to remind ourselves that people who commit crimes are human beings, and many of them will eventually be released back into the community after they have served their sentences. It could be that a program that focuses on encouraging them to acknowledge the human cost of the crimes they commit will do more to keep them from reoffending than simply keeping them locked up with other criminals for a time and hoping for the best.

Bill Ferguson is a resident of Warner Robins. Readers can write him at fergcolumn@hotmail.com.