Restorative Justice For Victims, Offenders and Community

Mark Umbreit, Ph.D., Sheryl Wilson, B.A. Annie Roberts M.Sc. Center for Restorative Justice & Peacemaking

University of Minnesota School of Social Work

January 2006

Key Questions: Retributive Justice

What laws were broken? Who did it? What punishment do they deserve?

Dr. Howard Zehr Eastern Mennonite University

Key Questions: Restorative Justice

Who has been hurt by this event? What are their needs? Whose obligations are they?

Dr. Howard Zehr Eastern Mennonite University

Key Characteristics: Restorative Justice

Victim-centered Offender-focused Community-driven Government as safeguard

Dr. Marlene Young National Organization for Victim Assistance

Restorative Justice

“Restorative justice provides opportunities for those most directly affected by a crime (victim,offender, families, and other community members) to be actively involved in the process of addressing harms, needs and obligations. RJ is about offender accountability, victim healing, and community safety, through mediation and dialogue whenever possible.”

Dr. Mark S. Umbreit University of Minnesota

Current Justice System: HOLDING OFFENDERS ACCOUNTABLE ACCOUNTABILITY MEANS TAKING YOUR PUNISHMENT

Victim and Offender in passive roles Focus on deficits Debt is abstract Little, if any, victim restitution

Restorative Justice System: HOLDING OFFENDERS ACCOUNTABLE

ACCOUNTABILITY MEANS TAKING RESPONSIBILITY AND TAKING ACTION TO REPAIR THE HARM TO VICTIM(S)

Victim and offender in active roles Focus on strengths Debt is concrete Victim restitution/restoration is norm

Key Elements of Restorative Justice (Howard Zehr 12/98)

Harm-focused

Victim-centered responses

Offender accountably addresses the

harm

Key Elements of Restorative Justice (Howard Zehr 12/98)

Engagement

Stakeholders involved in the process:

victims, community, offender

Dialogue, exchange of information, mutual agreement encouraged

RJ Dialogue Processes - Prototypes

Victim Offender Mediation (VOM) Victim and offender Multi-party

Restorative Group Conferencing (RGC) Family Group Conferencing (FGC) Community Conferencing (CC)

Circles

Peacemaking circles Talking circles

Restorative Dialogue

Models

Adapted from: Mark Seidler, Clearestory Communcations

PRISONER RE-ENTRY

COMMUNITY POLICING

R J Dialogue Processes

Engaging & Involving Crime Victims “A Balanced & Restorative Justice System”

Victim Members on Advisory Committees Victim Members on Special Task Forces Victim Awareness Staff Training Victim Awareness Training for Offenders Victim Panels/Dialogue with Offenders Victim Offender Dialogue Groups (in facility and/or in community)

Engaging & Involving Crime Victims “A Balanced & Restorative Justice System”

Victim Offender Mediation & Conferencing Family Group Conferencing Peacemaking and Sentencing Circles Victims as Mentors for Offenders Victims as Supervisors of Community

Service (Dr. Mark Umbreit, BARJ Project)

Where RJ Dialogue fits in CJS

PAROLE & REENTRY

PRE-TRIAL OR PRE- ADJUDICATION

PREVENTION

DIVERSION

PROBATION

PRISON OR COMMITMENT

Dialogue Opportunity

Evidence-based Best Practices Restorative Justice Dialogue

A Meta-Analysis conducted by the

Canadian Department of Justice, 2001 Examined 27 victim offender mediation

program evaluations Examined 8 family group conferencing

program evaluations 26 youth studies, 9 adult studies

Outcome Measures Examined

Victim Satisfaction

Offender Satisfaction

Restitution Compliance

Recidivism

Victim Satisfaction

Higher victim satisfaction ratings when compared to a comparison group

Total of 13 studies, 9 VOM, 4 FGC

Offender Satisfaction

Moderate to weak positive impact on offender satisfaction in all but one of the 13 studies when compared to non-restorative approaches

Total of 13 studies, 7 VOM, 6 FGC

Restitution Compliance

Substantially higher compliance rates than offenders exposed to other arrangements

Total of 8 studies

Recidivism

Restorative justice dialogue or conferencing, on average, yield reductions in recidivism when compared to non-restorative approaches

Total of 32 studies, 24 VOM, 8 FGC

Nugent, Umbreit, Wiinamaki, Paddock Recidivism Study – Meta Analysis

2001

Successful replication of 4 studies

Sample of 1,298 juvenile offenders

VOM = 619, Comparison Group = 679

32% REDUCTION IN RECIDIVISM

Participation in Victim Offender Mediation and the Prevalence and Severity of Subsequent Delinquent Behavior: A Meta-Analysis

William Nugent, Mona Williams, Mark Umbreit University of Tennessee and University of Minnesota Utah Law Review, December 2003

Total sample of 9,307 juvenile offenders Sample came from 19 program sites (15 prior studies)

The meta-analysis suggests a 26% reduction in recidivism For those who recidivated, their future delinquent

behavior decreased in severity (statistically significant) The effect size is 2-3 times greater than 2 prior meta-

analyses of juvenile recidivism in non-restorative programs

Selected Books The Little Book of RJ (series) – Zehr Critical Issues in RJ – Zehr and Toews Peacemaking Circles – Pranis, Stuart & Wedge The Handbook of VOM – Umbreit Facing Violence – Umbreit, Vos, Coates, Brown Changing Lenses – Zehr

Videos and Web-site

Restorative Justice Videos -- $20 each 1 of 6 in series – total price for all $100 Center for RJ & Peacemaking, U of MN, School of Social

Work, 1-612-624-4923

Web-site, Center for Restorative Justice & Peacemaking, University of Minnesota

Current: ssw.che.umn.edu/rjp Soon to be changed to: rjp.umn.edu

RJ Dialogue – other “systems”

COMMUNITY/ NEIGHBORHOOD

PUBLIC HEALTH - SOCIAL SERVICES

FAITH COMMUNITIES

CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM (CJS)

SCHOOLS

WORKPLACE

RJ Opportunity