What We Have Is Adversarial Justice
Until the last ten years I had gotten most of my knowledge of the courts from the ubiquitous Law and Order as well as other programs. Oh, yes and there was the OJ trial. We have seen bad guys get off and good guys go to jail. We believe, however, that except for rare occasions, these dramatic license cases, the system works as an agent for justice for the victim. So did I.
However after serving on a jury and as a Death Penalty Mitigation Specialist, I know that isn't the case. And it really can't be. Look at the very accurate definition above. You have one person working for this thing called 'the people' whose job is to convict and another working for the defendant whose job it is to get an acquittal. Both of them have their job and their reputations, careers and income are based on their doing just what their role is telling them to do. Now, while it is still better than many systems in the world, do you really think that it is going to be a vehicle to find the truth? No, it can't be. The only people whose job that is are the jury and they can only get information from people whose job it is to convict or get an acquittal.
Restorative Justice VS Adversarial Justice
What We Need Is Restorative Justice
The current system sees the state and the injured party. If you are mugged, the guilty person has committed a crime against the state and only incidentally against you. Any stolen property, including money, is held by the state until it is finished with it. You may never get it back. You might be called as a witness, if it behooves the state or 'the people' to have a trial. You might get some sympathetic words from the prosecutor, or you may not. If you want to confront your mugger, you do not have the option. You may get to do a victim's impact statement, if the state sees fit to have a trial and not settle.Restorative justice focuses on the victim and the impact on the community. These are not abstracts like the people, or even the state. There is more of a impetus to find the truth of what happened.
Eleanor Roosevelt
"When will our conscience grow so tender that we will act to prevent human misery rather than avenge it?"
Adversarial Justice
We think of our system as being a trial by jury of one's peers with innocence until proven guilty. It is that.
However, it is also a system of adversaries, where the state opposes the the defendant. The state and the defendant both have someone to win their case. The truth is not the point, nor is helping the victim.
The adversarial system (or adversary system) of law is the system of law that relies on the contest between each advocate representing his or her party's positions and involves an impartial person or group of people, usually a jury or judge, trying to determine the truth of the case. As opposed to that, the inquisitorial system has a judge (or a group of judges who work together) whose task is to investigate the case.
Image:[http://texcrime.com/images/fort_worth_court_room5.jpg]|Court Room
The adversarial system is generally adopted in common law countries. An exception, for instance in the U.S., may be made for minor violations, such as traffic offences. On the continent of Europe among some civil law systems (i.e. those deriving from Roman law or the Napoleonic Code) the inquisitorial system may be used for some types of cases.
The adversarial system is the two-sided structure under which criminal trial courts operate that pits the prosecution against the defense. Justice is done when the most effective adversary is able to convince the judge or jury that his or her perspective on the case is the correct one.
Madge Michaels-Cyrus
"Nonviolence doesn't always work -- but violence never does."
Restorative Justice
Restorative Justice is about the needs of the victim and the taking of responsibility by the guilty. While prison and punishment still happen, the victim is more involved, but only in a way that meets the victim's needs. The guilty has a larger responsibility other than serving time or 'paying one's debt to society'.
Restorative Justice is an approach to justice where offenders are encouraged to take responsibility for their actions and "to repair the harm they've done- by apologizing, returning stolen money, or (for example) doing community service".A New Kind of Criminal Justice October 25, 2009 page 6 Parade It is based on a theory of justice that focuses on crime and wrong doing as acted against the individual or community rather than the state. In restorative justice processes the justice system has the person who has done harm and the person who has been harmed take an active role. The victim may receive an apology, direct reparation or indirect action to restore or fix the damage. Restorative Justice can involve a fostering of dialog between the offender and the victim show the highest rates of victim satisfaction, true accountability by the offender, and reduced recidivism (repeat offences).
Definition of Restorative Justice:
"Restorative justice is a broad term which encompasses a growing social movement to institutionalize peaceful approaches to harm, problem-solving and violations of legal and human rights. These range from international peacemaking tribunals such as the South Africa Truth and Reconciliation Commission to innovations within the criminal and juvenile justice systems, schools, social services and communities. Rather than privileging the law, professionals and the state, restorative resolutions engage those who are harmed, wrongdoers and their affected communities in search of solutions that promote repair, reconciliation and the rebuilding of relationships. Restorative justice seeks to build partnerships to reestablish mutual responsibility for constructive responses to wrongdoing within our communities. Restorative approaches seek a balanced approach to the needs of the victim, wrongdoer and community through processes that preserve the safety and dignity of all".Suffolk University, College of Arts & Sciences, Center for Restorative Justice, What is Restorative Justice?
Restorative justice is very different from either the adversarial legal process or that of civil litigation. "Court-annexed ADR (alternative dispute resolution) and restorative justice could not be philosophically further apart" because lawyers seek to reduce issues between offenders and victims to only legally relevant ones and to protect their offending client, whereas restorative justice seeks "expanding the issues beyond those that are legally relevant, especially into underlying relationships."Braithwaite, J. Restorative Justice & Responsive Regulation 2002, Oxford University Press, at 249. ISBN 0195158393
Citing Greif, Liebmann has written that
Restorative Justice posits a paradigm shift that is best understood by asking the oft-quoted "three questions." The more common three questions for a system of justice to ask are "1. What laws have been broken?, 2. Who did it?, 3. What do they deserve?" Restorative justice asks, "1. Who has been hurt?, 2. What are their needs?, 3. Whose obligations are these?"Zehr, Howard. The Little Book of Restorative Justice Intercourse, PA: Good Books. 2002.
The Circle of Restorative Justice
-Anonymous
"Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it stands than to anything on which it is poured."
How Restorative Justice Is Different
First you must know that Restorative Justice is not a Kumbaya love circle. It is not meant to be easy on the guilty. However, it is victim and community focused. There are no abstracts, "the people". Yes, violent and non violent people are still put away, sometimes for life. This isn't a system where a form of 'community service' for violent crimes. It is not a way for the wealthy to buy freedom by re-embursing families.But the victim is part of the process and has the right to demand a confrontation with the guilty and on the victims' time. If you are the victim of the mugging up above, you could confront the mugger on your time table. You could ask for other kinds of reparations that you might need. The crime was against you primarily, the community secondarily, but not 'the state'.
It is also not about the guilty feeling better, it is about the victim feeling better. It is about the guilty truly taking responsibility. Being punished by the state, while often difficult, it really a way for the guilty to be absolved of responsibility while never really dealing with the damage that they cause.
A Foundation for Restorative Justice
A Healing River -Trailer - Restorative Justice
A Healing River is a collection of passionate voices and heartfelt stories that take you on a journey through the paradigm shift that some call restorative justice. The film takes a thought provoking look at the issues of trauma, recovery and the psychological foundations of restorative process. (available through Heartspeak Productions - www.heartspeakproductions.ca) A Healing River includes interviews with some of North America's leading thinkers and most experienced practitioners in the restorative justice movement including: retired Yukon Territorial Judge Barry Stuart, Victim Services Manager Sandy Bryce, Trauma Therapist Dr. Joe Solanto, Psychiatrist Dr. Donald L. Nathanson, circle keepers Harold and Phil Gatensby of the Tlinget Nation, Sandi Bergen and Dave Gustafson of Fraser Region Community Justice Initiatives Association, Restorative Justice Practitioner Kay Pranis, James Scott of the Ottawa Collaborative Justice Project, and Dr. Liz Elliott, director of The Centre for Restorative Justice at Simon Fraser University. Celine Lee, participant of the Victim Offender Mediation Program for serious violent crimes, and prisoners Deltonia Cook and Warren Glowatski, also speak candidly about their own healing journeys.
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Dr Tom Cavanagh Teaches Restorative Justice in the Schools
Yes, where better to start to learn personal responsibility to those you harm than in your youth. Could programs like this have prevented Columbine like incidents?"The purpose of this website is to provide a forum for me to share with others the work I am doing. Currently I am primarily working in the field of restorative justice and particularly restorative practices in schools. My research and professional development interests focus on how schools can use restorative practices to respond to student wrongdoing and conflict in conjunction with a culturally appropriate pedagogy of relations in classrooms under the umbrella of a culture of care to create safe schools. In this environment students experience freedom from harm and the threat of harm and freedom to be who and what they are."
Tom Cavenagh
US Depeartment of Justice on Restorative Justice
US Department of Justice
For those of you who really want to study the issue, the synopsis of 5 symposia are here.
"For some time now there has been growing dissatisfaction with the justice system. Citizens feel disconnected, victims are dissatisfied, and those working in the system are frustrated. Policymakers are increasingly concerned about the burgeoning cost of justice in the face of this discontent and the high rates of recidivism that exist."
A Victim's Story
Restorative Justice Continuum
Restorative Justice Continuum - Howard Zehr Ph.D EMU
In this excerpt from Tributary Streams of a Healing River, Howard Zehr talks about the continuum of restorativeness, shame, respect, honor, humiliation, vindication, indigenous and social justice. Tributary Streams of a Healing River is an in depth study of restorative justice with over 14 hrs of video on 10 DVDs. (available from Heartspeak Productions -- www.heartspeakproductions.ca) Speakers Bio: Howard Zehr joined the graduate Center for Justice and Peacebuilding (CJP) at Eastern Mennonite University in 1996 as Professor of Restorative Justice. Prior to that he served for nineteen years as director of the Mennonite Central Committee U.S. Office on Crime and Justice. He now serves as Co-Director of CJP and Professor of Sociology and Restorative Justice, Conflict Transformation Program. Dr. Zehr's book, Changing Lenses: A New Focus for Crime and Justice, has been a foundational work in the growing "restorative justice" movement; in their recent book, Restoring Justice, Dan Van Ness and Karen Heederks Strong cite him as the "grandfather of restorative justice." He lectures and consults internationally on restorative justice and victim offender conferencing, which he helped pioneer. Other publications include Crime and the Development of Modern Society (1976), Doing Life: Reflections of Men and Women Serving Life Sentences (1996), Transcending: Reflections of Crime Victims (2001), The Little Book of Restorative Justice (2002), Critical Issues in Restorative Justice (2004, co-edited with Barb Toews), The Little Book of Family Group Conferencing, New Zealand Style (2004, co-authored with Allan MacRae); The Little Book of Contemplative Photography (2005). He has published numerous articles on restorative justice. He has also served as Director, Office on Crime and Justice and Consultant, International Peace Office, Mennonite Central Committee, Akron, PA. He has worked professionally as a photographer and photojournalist, both in North America and internationally. Dr. Zehr was the Founder and Director, Elkhart County PACT (now Center for Community Justice; the first U.S. Victim Offender Reconciliation Program). He also served as Associate Professor and Co-director of the Social Science and the Law Project, Talladega College, Talladega, AL, 1971-1978. Zehr has brought his work on victim offender conferencing, restorative justice and other criminal justice issues to community groups, justice practitioners, criminal justice officials and universities in North America, Nepal, Vietnam, South Africa, Northern Ireland, England, India, New Zealand, Swaziland, Burkina Faso, Jamaica, Guatemala, Russia, Ukraine and Bosnia. He was appointed by federal court in the Oklahoma City bombing trial of Timothy McVeigh (with Tammy Krause) to assist defense in working with victims, 1997. He has been awarded the Annual Peacebuilder Award, New York Dispute Resolution Association, 2003 and the International Restorative Justice Prize, Prison Fellowship International, 2004. Zehr earned his Ph.D. at Rutgers University in 1974; his M.A. at the University of Chicago in 1967; and his B.A. at Morehouse College, Atlanta, GA in 1966.
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Its Time To Shift to Restorative Justice
Restorative justice is the path to healing for the victims of crime. It focuses on the victim and the victim's needs. It holds the criminal not just responsible for breaking the law, but also for reparations to the victim.
Do You Think We Need Restorative Justice
Fetching blurbs now... please stand byIt Is Time for Restorative Justice and Here is Why...
lisadh says:
We need more than restorative justice. We need a system that first focuses on the needs of the victims and then focuses on rehabilitating rather than just punishing the guilty party.
Posted December 30, 2008
We Should Keep What We Have and Here Is Why..
Restorative Justice On the State Level
Many states, including Texas, the state with the most executions, have provided agency help to Restorative Justice programs. This is a good sign. Perhaps they are seeing that we have come to the end of the era of Adversarial Justice and it is time to evolve into something different.Minnesota
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Please Sign in With Your Thoughts About This Lens and Restorative Justice
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- spirituality spirituality May 1, 2009 @ 12:16 pm
- Great lens - you've been blessed by a squidoo angel :)
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- lisadh lisadh Dec 30, 2008 @ 6:29 pm
- There are so many things wrong with our justice system, including the fact that victims are often revictimized and perpetrators never really get to see the impact of their actions on the people they hurt. A restorative justice system would help solve that problem. But beyond that, the recidivism rate in our prisons is appalling. Locking someone away doesn't teach them how to change their lives. It gets them off the streets for a few years, but it doesn't address the underlying cause of their behavior. A truly effective justice system would involve mandatory and intensive counseling for all convicts. But shrinks are more expensive than prisons guards, aren't they?
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Many Ways to Learn About Restorative Justice
The Little Book of Restorative Justice (The Little Books of Justice & Peacebuilding) by Howard Zehr
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The Little Book of Restorative Discipline for Schools: Teaching Responsibility; Creating Caring Climates (The Little Books of Justice and Peacebuilding Series) by Lorraine Stutzman Amstutz, Judy H. Mullet
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Restorative Justice: Ideas, Practices, Debates by Gerry Johnstone
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Restorative Justice: Ideas, Practices, Debates by Gerry Johnstone
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Restorative Justice in the United States by Clifford K. Dorne
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Handbook Of Restorative Justice
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Restorative Justice & Responsive Regulation (Studies in Crime and Public Policy) by John Braithwaite
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Restorative Justice Reader: Texts, Sources and Context
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Restorative Justice and Civil Society
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Restorative Justice and the Law
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Restorative Justice: How It Works by Marian Liebmann
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'Will the Circle be Unbroken?': Aboriginal Communities, Restorative Justice, and the Challenges of Conflict and Change by Jane Dickson-Gilmore, Carol La Prairie
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Fetching RSS feed... please stand byAbout Margo Arrowsmith
Lensmaster Margo_Arrowsmith has been a member since June 21 2008, has rated 2,009 lenses, favorited 120, and has created 129 lenses from scratch. Margo Arrowsmith donates their royalties to Squidoo Charity Fund. This member's top-ranked page is "Debbie Wasserman Schultz?". See all my lenses
My Bio
For Arrowsmith Printing 9/22/08
I was born into a small business, I believe that small business and entrepreneurs are the backbone of America and what has made us great. They are what made us great and will save us in these unsure times. I have never wanted to have a great job. Well, better a great one, than a boring dead end one, and I have had both. But I have never really wanted a job at all.
Don't get me wrong, I am a hard worker. I have worked a full-time job, a part time job and a private practice all at the same time for a lot of years in my past. It isn't the work, its the working for someone else. Never wanted to do that, and I don't understand those who want to do that.
When I was six months old my parents bought their first small town weekly newspaper in Iowa. This was back in the day, back when small town newspapers were not just advertising sheets. Perhaps there are still some of them that are real, I hope so.
So I came by this perverse nature naturally. My path to self employment has been different than theirs, but it has always been my path, my direction.
Growing up in Iowa, in the fifties, I also grew up politically conservative. By the time I was 30 I was radically left. Today? I am proudly liberal and what that means will be clearer as we progress.
However, I have had conflicts about 'taking advantage of people'. I now know that employing people is not automatically taking advantage of them, but it took a while for me to learn that nothing is intrinsically good or bad. Well, almost nothing.
I have educated myself in business, I have a small business and I have used EFT and other energy clearing methods to help me clarify the old conflicts and move forward.
My mission here is to provide a forum for people who want to work independently through one person businesses or through employing others and for whom the betterment of human kind is an important value. My lenses are about offering good products, teaching people about betting their lives, and using the money they make for their pleasure and the benefit of others.
That is how I see business and if you have a similar vision I invite you to my blog www.creatingbusinessenergy.com
Margo Arrowsmith
Raleigh, North Carolina
Mother and Grandmother
Clinincal Social Worker, Coach and Internet Marketer
Interfaith Contemplative Minister
Student of life, business, the human spirit that motivates us to be our best in all circumstances.
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