Retributive Justice Model

- conceptual

- universal

- institutional

- punishment is an impersonal ideal tied to the basic logic of the system

- applies to everyone, no matter what

Restorative Justice Model

- direct

- particularistic

- experiential

- 'punishment depends on the specific offender: emotional state, personality, connection to the victim, etc.

- particular individual cases

- reintegration

Restorative Justice: Principles

• justice based on direct cooperations of all those harmed by crime and incivility in a positive process of reconciliation and reparation
• seeks to balance concerns of victim & community w/ need to reintegrate offender into society
• restorative approach is participative: deals w/ OFFENDERS by working w/ them to repair harm; reparation process involves VICTIMS and communities
  
• all affected parties contribute to decision making about what needs to be done

Restoratve Justice Model: Rationale

• most non-incarcerated 1st time young offenders don't reoffend. If incarcerated, likelihood of reoffending increases.
• youth violence is public health matter; requires preventive/treatment oriented solutions
• most promising rehabilitation occurs w/in home or community
• societies w/ low crime rates don't mind their own business - have clear limits to tolerating deviance, and handle their own problems.

Major study of Chicago found crime/violence was reduced in areas where neighbours co-operate, meet, work together to solve problems, and intervene on behalf of common good

2 Approaches to Restorative Justice: Individual-Orientation and Community Orientation

INDIVIDUAL ORIENTATION

INDIVIDUAL ORIENTATION: focus on crime problem

• individualized notions of harm
• reducing recidivism
• rehabilitation and treatment

- victim assistance and impact; restoration, reparation; offender shaming, accountability; rehabilitation, re-integration

• reform of CJS programmes

2 Approaches to Restorative Justice: Individual-Orientation and Community Orientation

COMMUNITY ORIENTATION

COMMUNITY ORIENTATION - focus on SOCIAL JUSTICE

• community/social harm
• social action: building community capacity/organization
• consensus: conflict resolution; healing; restore peace and boundaries of good behaviour; community service; offender competency enhancement
• emphasize public accountability of CJS and corporations empowerment, citizen involvement
• reducing inequality

Victim-Oriented Programmes

Victim-Offender Mediation:

• mediatior contacts victim and offender to make sure both are appropriate for mediation (psychologically sound so it's constructive).
• mediator meets w/ each party 3-5 times over 10-12 month period
• victim speaks about personal dimensions of victimization/loss while offender can express remorse, explain situational circumstances
  
• parties agree on nature/extent of harm to identify reparation
• terms of agreed reparation
  

Victims of Severe Violence (Example)

- growing number of victims of severe violence (sex. assault, att. homicide, murder) and offenders requesting mediated dialogue to seek greater sense of healing.

Severe Violence Victims/Offenders & Mediation

- parents of murdered children expressed sense of relief after meeting offender/inmate & sharing pain. Also been able to reconstruct what happened/why.

VORP

• 1970s Can. experiment - youth probation officer convinced judge that 2 youth convicted of vandalism should meet crime victims
• judge ordered youth to pay restitution to victims as probation
• experiment evolved into organized offender/victim reconciliaiton program funded by church/gov't and supported by community.
• 400 like programs exist in USA
• 1st USA program launched in Indiana in 1978
• Vermont identified 50% of probation could be held by such programs
  

VORP Success Rates

• significant reduction in recidivism following mediation
• fewer additional crimes committed by juvenile offenders in several victim-offender mediation progarams in the US (18%) compared to similar offenders who did not participate (27%)
  

Victim Offender Panels

• provide opportunity for indirect encounter when either victim or offender is unwilling/unable to meet
• comprised of unrelated victims/offenders linked only by a common kind of crime, not particular crimes that involved others
• panel may bring closure to victim, to expose offenders to the harms they have cuased by providing an opportunity for parties to speak about experiences

MADD (1980 Texas)

• developed as means of giving convicted drunk drivers appreciation of human cost of drunk driving on victims/survivors
• judges order offenders to attend panel as condition of probation to listen to victims of drunk driving
• MADD chapters choose 3-4 victims whom speak about drunk driving impact.
• help offenders acknowledge responsibility: not just "bad luck"
• break thru denial of having drug/alcohol problem

MADD Success Rates

• panels organized by MADD show dramatic changes in attitudes of offenders toward DD and recidivism
• one study: 87% panelists vowed to continue DD before participation, but 90% said they would never again after the panel
• 82% of participant victims state panel facilitates healing

2. Offender-Oriented Programmes

• prisoner assistance programmes attempt to develop in prisoners capacities which allow them to functino in the legitimate community
• make the transition from institutionalization to community membership, possessing marketable skills

Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP in NH)

• workshops which focus on building communication, conflict-resolution skills in prisoners
• skills help facilitate community reintegration
• constructive skills replace destructive violent responses

Detroit Transition of Prisoners (TOP)

• mobilize support of business community, social service agencies, local resources, to provide for needs of ex-prisoner & their family as ex-prisoner assumes job/family responsibilities
• recidivism rate of TOP participants is 9%, compared to 50% based on risk assessment scores

Real-Life Skills Training - Kansas

• joint ventures b/w corrections and private companies
• programs have far-reaching benefit aside from assisting an inmate in obtaining work skills/work ethic
• upon deducting mandatory deductions, remaining net balance placed into inmate's institutional account - instead of just normal $100

Community Service Orders

• diversionary alt. to incarceration: probation includes specified # of hours of community service
• work normally performed by volunteers
• benefits non-profit organizations, local gov'ts, Indian bands
• creates benefits visible in the community
• involves participant working, preferably w/ other citizens rather than alone

Community Service Order - EX: George Michaels

• George Michaels, convicted of drug-driving, gave singing lessons in youth clubs
• escaped incarceration, but given 100 hrs. of community service

Community Service Orders - Success Rates

• Canada - Before introduction of YCJA in 2003, and widespread use of CSOs, recidivism rates in Canada among young people was around 70%
• 2 yrs. later, 16%

Alternatives to Incarceration Initiative - Bermuda

• Alternatives to Incarceration initiative was 'introduced' in 1999 as 'Bermudianized' approach to deal w/ non-violent offenders in restorative & rehabilitative manner in the community
  SUCCESS:
• prison pop. dropped, community supervision increase
• recidivism rates dropped from 78% to 7.26%
• no reoffending in drug court treatment programme

CASE STUDY-New Life Project Norway

• PF Norway began NLP in Dec. 2006 in partnership w/ various Christian organizations
• Not Risk assessment, but 'mapping' analysis: health, $ needs, work experience, education, housing, social networks, dreams
• personal growth uses group processes to address issues (ex: drug addiction) building/maintaining healty, lasting relationships and other 'how to change' programmes.' Content is flexible.
• 12 mo. aftercare services consist of mentoring, gov't assistance
  

COMMUNITY-ORIENTED PROGRAMMES

• cooperative interation between communities & CJS
• community can be effective body within which to attempt to prevent crime because:

- while gov't is responsible for maintaining order, community itself responsible for fostering peace within itself

- to establish peace, community must assume proactive role with programs aimed at fostering wellness/building community morale

Reintegrative Shaming

• community consensus on resolution, & condemnation of the unacceptable conduct, then results in norm/value clarification
• important aspect: constructive value of reintegrative shame - where community denounces offenders conduct but affirms their committment to offender and their active desire to reintegrate him/her into society

Community Policing

• empowerful police, who are skilled professionals
• trust and legitimacy
• autonomous management
• shared values
• diversity/representivity
• interdepartmental cooperation
• integrated crime control
• sufficient resources focussed on ground level crime

Community Policing

• reorientation of patrol - new modes of transport
• decentralization of command
• mediation and discretion
• community partnerships

Citizens Police Academy CPA

• crime watch - biggest civilian component
• citizens get acquainted w/ police activities, procedures, willing to cooperate
• police agencies gain better understanding of civil concerns, their perceptions of police.

5 Functions of Citizens in CPAs

1. be the eyes and ears of community
2. form patrols, confront criminal and disorderly individuals and drive them out from the community
3. reduce citizens chance of victimization, opportunity for crime, actual crime, fear ocrime
4. put pressure on others to act
5. allow police to act on their behalf

Sports

• positive role of sport as intervention to prevent delinquency.
  
• entrenched attitude existing officers hold that playing ball w/ kids will compromise their ability to effect an arrest when required MUST change.
• Arlington: police donated time to coach/direct Arlington youth. Allowed youth to develop positive image of police. Developed opportunity for youth to have POSITIVE cooperation w/ police.

Parent Project Program

• traditional policing ineffective w/ delinquency problems b/c of un-involved parents to deal w/ it.
• Thousand Oaks (CA) Police dept. developed Parent project program as a way of dealing w/ problems associated w/ children
• teaches parent specific-step-by-step plans for intervention.
• parents actively involved in program linked w/ community policing officer
• help children in trouble, can change community in which they live in.

Weed and Seed Program

• Weed and Seed, community based strategy sponsored by US DOJ, is an innovative comprehensive multiagency approach to law enforcement, crime prevention, community revitalization
• 250 W&S sites range in size from few blocks to several miles, pop. 3,000-50,000
• strategy involves 2 pronged approach

- weed out violent criminals, drug abusers

- seed human services, intervention, treatment etc

Weed and Seed - Charlotteville, NC

• Real Estate volunteers cleaned gutters, removed overgrown vines, weeds, installed new shed, rearranged furniture, installed flood lights, purchased for elderly womans home.

Weed and Seed -Selma, CA

• Salazar Ctr. & W&S program sites offer nutrition & healthy lifestyle activities programs

• Students cook, taste test, play educational games, outdoor activiites

W&S: SUCCESS?

 Milwaukee:

• -20.7% overall crime in W&S areas (compared to 4%)
• -46.9% violent crime (homicide, sex. assault)
• -46.1% weapon possession charges
• +35% increase in neighbourhood happiness
• +16% citizens who feel safety increased
• -21-24% citizens who are afraid to go out after dark b/c of crime.

Family Resource Ctrs.

• 2-4 mo. community-based program to address delinquency causes
• focus on family system as center of network.
• emphasis on preserving the family and developing effective social-cognitive skills.

Schools Programmes

-  RCCP (Resolving Conflict Creatively Program) is in US schools. Using peers to facilitate mediation process as a means of resolving conflict in non-violent manner

- mutual problem solving techniques to prevent escalation of conflict into violence

- seek to deal with problems and/or conflicts which are unique to community in which they arise.

- 10 wk program emphasizing aggression control, moral reasoning pro social behaviour amouth young offenders

School Programs: Success?

• pre-school program in US reduced proportion of kids w/ 5 arrests when they became adults to just 7%, compared to 35% of adults w/ similar lives
• translates into saving $7 in welfare/policing costs for every $1.00 invested in program.