Every society has laws to regulate behavior between people. In some ways, laws provide us minimum guidelines for living together safely. Yet when someone breaks a law, that person violates not only a rule, but often a relationship or another person (the victim, families, or the community in general). Ultimately, it's the violation of another person that is the real harm.

Our program applies the principles and practice of restorative justice in our community's response to crime. How do we do this? By holding offenders constructively accountable. By addressing victims' needs. By seeking support from families and a concerned community.

WHY RESTORATIVE JUSTICE?

A typical response to crime is to find out what law was broken, who did it, and what they deserve. That response is useful in some ways. For example, it does seek to hold someone accountable for the crime committed. But it is inadequate in other ways. It fails to actively address how crime can be destructive to a web of relationships, to a neighborhood, and to a broader community. It also falls short of addressing the sometimes acute needs of victims who have been directly harmed by the crime.

Restorative justice strives for an accountability that builds relationships rather than destroying them. To that end, it places victim needs at the center, affirms community connections, and looks for ways to engage the offender in constructive ways.

OUR PRINCIPLES

When seeking justice, the people most affected should be given a chance to have a say in what happens. So we engage the offender, the victim, their supporters, and other community members in a process that asks:

• What harm occurred? To whom?
• What needs to be done to repair the harm?
• How can offenders be held constructively accountable?
• Who is responsible for this repair?

Sometimes we hear that this process is simply a “common sense” approach to working with crime in communities. This is true, but working through the concepts of harm, needs, and repair in an explicit way means that we draw a direct line between the event of crime and the people who were affected, rather than between the event of crime and the laws or rules that were broken.

OUR VALUES

In all our encounters – whether with offenders, victims, or community members – we value respect, honesty, integrity, responsibility, and accountability.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Please visit our website at www.CentralVirginiaRJ.org