A bit of theory Pt. 1

I have set into a routing at CDR now: entering new case information, updating ongoing case information, setting up and conducting intakes, preparing for Monday's RPC session, and doing ad-hoc work that comes up in an office setting. I also have had time to research more on the US juvenile-justice system and RPC. Therefore, follows is a first part of a two part series on the theory behind Restorative Justice:

Restorative justice (RJ) is a burgeoning field of practice that has seen monumental leaps in the past quarter of a century, being embraced from individuals such as Oprah to governments such as South Africa. The idea of restorative justice is considered by many to be much different than ‘retributive justice’ or commonly known as the traditional criminal justice system. In Howard Zehr’s seminal work, Changing Lenses, on restorative justice, he provides a valuable critique of the punitive criminal justice system where the victim is often disregarded, emotionally and judicially, as soon as the offender is apprehended. Zehr presents his idea of addressing the “needs” and “roles” of the often overlooked stakeholders (victims and community members), whom he believes have crucial roles in order to attain ‘justice’. Zehr makes it a point to ruminate on how the current conceptions and frameworks of justice, especially in regards to western law and the criminal justice system, seriously overlooks the victim’s actual needs or the root causes of “crime” which are often systemic (economic oppression etc), and even downplays their role in the justice process; and the subsequent impersonal state judiciary, which deems itself the main victim only helps to further alienate the original victim of the crime. Restorative justice process started in the 70s as mediation between victims and offenders, Victim Offender Reconciliation Program (VORP). The thematic issue was broadened in 1990s to include communities and collaborative processes through “conferences” and “circles”, and post 1990 apartheid in South Africa, restorative process was used as part of a larger transitional justice schematics. 

The following table shows a simplistic view of the main differences that most proponents of RJ would point out in highlighting the differences between the two seemingly different systems (Excerpt from, Leonard, P. B. (2011). An Introduction to Restorative Justice. In P. B. Leonard, E. Beck, & K. P. Nancy (Eds.), Social Work and Restorative Justice: Skills for Dialogue, Peacemaking, and Reconciliation (pp. 31-63). New York: Oxford University Press.):

Two Different Views
Criminal Justice	Restorative Justice
·  Crime is a violation of the law and the state	·  Crime is a violation of people and relationships
·  Violations create guilt	· Violations create obligations
· Justice requires the state to determine blame (guilt) and impose pain (punishment)	·  Justice involves victims, offenders, and community members in an effort to put things right
Central Focus: Offenders get what they deserve	Central Focus: Victim needs and offender responsibility for repairing harm
Three Different Questions
Criminal Justice	Restorative Justice
What laws have been broken?	Who has been hurt?
Who did it?	What are their needs?
What do they deserve?	Whose obligations are these?