Getting smart on crime: Restorative Justice

Our criminal justice system is broken. One half of released offenders return to prison within three years. The rate of incarceretion is increasing despite the decrease in crime rates. We will soon spend more on prisons than on higher education.

We must think from a different perspective. Restorative Justice (RJ) is a community based approach to criminal conduct. RJ focuses on harms done to victims, communities and relationships rather than on the laws that were broken. RJ requires offenders to accept total responsibility for their acts, apologize, and be accountable to repair what was damaged. RJ is victim centered; it empowers victims to participate in setting consequences, provides restoration and thereby enables them to begin to heal. RJ breaks the cycle of juvenile crime, and of crime in general. RJ is far more cost effective.

House Bill 08-1117 “Restorative Justice in the Juvenile Code” Click Here to download the PDF version of Joshua Wachtel's article. Pete Lee was the principal drafter of House Bill 08-1117. Pete's bill was was supported by the Colorado District Attorney’s Council, the Department of Public Safety and the Colorado Organization of Victim Advocates. Pete's bill received bipartisan support and passed the Colorado House and Senate by a vote of 99 to 1. On March 31, 2008, Governor Ritter signed the bill into law.

"Retributive Justice" - A Broken Model

Clearly the present model of what is generally called “retributive justice” is not working. Despite the best intentions of dedicated professionals, our prisons are full. We are incarcerating people at ever increasing rates, and then returning them to our communities un-rehabilitated, unrepentant and unprepared to live among us.

One half of offenders released from prison return to prison within three years of release. Colorado’s prison costs are increasing at rates in excess of the population and the crime rate. This year Colorado is looking to spend more on prisons than on higher education. Moreover, crime victims feel violated, angry, marginalized and unsatisfied with the process.

Getting smart on crime requires that we think differently. Getting smart on crime require that we approach it from a different perspective - Restorative Justice is one such approach.

Restorative Justice is Community Justice

The goals of Restorative Justice are offender accountability, victim satisfaction and community safety. While retributive justice asks what law was broken and what is the prescribed punishment, Restorative Justice focuses on harms done to people and relationships and how to repair it.

Restorative Justice requires offenders to accept full responsibility for their acts, apologize to the victims, and then repair the damage. In carefully facilitated conferences, victims, offenders and community members meet face to face. Offenders describe why they committed the offense. Then the victim describes its impact on them and their family. Hearing the victim’s story, offenders can walk in the shoes of their victim and often develop empathy.

By receiving an explanation and an expression of remorse from the offender, and then getting restitution and restoration, the victims gain understanding, begin healing and move towards closure. Collectively, the participants set individualized and appropriate consequences in a written agreement that is monitored by the court.

Forging Bipartisan Solutions

Pete has a long history of working with at-risk youth and juvenile offenders. He served on the board of Workout, Ltd., a juvenile restitution program, for almost 30 years. For the past six years, Pete has been actively involved with Restorative Justice. As board chair of Workout, Ltd., vice Chair of the Youth Transformation Center and as a member of both the Manitou Springs and the Pikes Peak Restorative Justice Councils, Pete has been an early activist for this innovative and successful approach to criminal justice.

Taking it to the next level, Pete Lee was the principal drafter of the new House Bill 08-1117 "Restorative Justice in the Children’s Code". Working with judges, prosecutors, defenders and victims and children’s advocates, he wrote a bill to satisfy the needs of all stakeholders. It passed the Colorado House and Senate with only one dissenting vote and was then signed into law by Governor Ritter on March 31, 2008.

The Restorative Justice bill was sponsored by both Democrats and Republican legislators and received bipartisan support. It was the result of a true community collaborative effort. Now that "Restorative Justice in the Children’s Code" is state law, it can significantly impact the entire juvenile justice system. It can break the cycle of juvenile crime and, latter, slow the growth of crime in general.

A Safer Community

In practice, the new bill requires judges to advise juvenile offenders that restorative practices may be part of their sentence. It adds restorative practices to the sentencing options available to judges. It enables judges and probation officers to have offenders meet with their victims. It gives prosecutors a powerful tool to use to combat juvenile crime.

Restorative Justice contributes to community safety. Ninety three percent of juvenile offenders who have been through Restorative Justice victim offender conferences do not re-offend. If we can broaden the use of Restorative Justice, either as a primary, or additional response, to juvenile crime, we can begin to reduce the cycle of crime by kids. By getting smart on crime, by thinking about it differently and by using creative approaches we already made substantial progress. By reducing juvenile crime, we will inevitably impact adult crime and our community will be safer in the long run.