The Badger Herald · Restorative justice: part 1 of 2--Choice of healing or punishment - The Badger Herald
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April 23, 2009 at 2:11:37am
NEWS
JACQUELYN RYBERG
Restorative justice: part 1 of 2–Choice of healing or
punishment
The Badger Herald
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He was just another college kid at the University of Wisconsin
campus. He was nearing the end of his senior year, looking
forward to graduation and anticipating a promising career. He
thought he was protected in the insular world of a college
campus. He never expected what would come next.
Arrested for the distribution of ecstasy on the UW campus and sentenced
nearly seven years ago, the student spent three years and three months
in the federal system serving out a retributive punishment. Released
from prison and out in the real world again, he has asked to remain
anonymous.
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The student described the experience of awaiting his sentencing before
being transferred to federal prison camp as the worst three months of his
life.
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“You’re cut out from the outside world, you’re stuck in a cell 24 hours a
day and you can’t leave and the prison guards treat you like dirt,” he said.
“They think you’re scum and you don’t deserve to live. It was awful.”
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This man’s case is only one of many that occur on a daily basis in this
country, and the likelihood cases like his, and even those unlike his,
result in prison sentences is becoming an increasing reality.
According to a report released in February by the Pew Center on the
States’ Public Safety Performance Project, at the start of 2008, for the first
time in history, one in every 100 adults were being detained in American
prisons or jails.
Additionally, the report states in 2008 alone, states spent nearly $49
billion on corrections, which is $38 billion more than what they were
spending 20 years ago. However, national recidivism rates are steadier
than ever, with approximately half of released inmates winding up back
in jail or prison within three years.
So, what’s going to halt the increasing prison rate, the mounting
expenses and the unchanging recidivism rates?
Some are looking for a different solution, a different approach, in fact, a
whole different philosophy. It’s called restorative justice, and while it’s
been around for many years, the “atypical way of thinking” has been on
the rise throughout the country — even showing up on college
campuses.
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Restorative justice: a definition
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According to David Karp, associate dean of student affairs at Skidmore
College, restorative justice attempts to create the opportunity for a
dialogue to occur between offenders and harmed parties.
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http://badgerherald.com/news/2009/04/23/restorative-justice/
“It creates a healing opportunity for a fractured relationship, and that’s
very important to the community,” he said. “When we have crimes that
happen, we have a rip in the fabric of a community. And rather than
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The Badger Herald · Restorative justice: part 1 of 2--Choice of healing or punishment - The Badger Herald
10/22/13 10:06 AM
ostracize people from the community, we need to mend that fabric.”
Karp added the restorative justice approach “flips the traditional
punishment model on its head.” Instead of giving offenders a retributive,
“eye for an eye” penalty, it attempts to identify the harm caused and
repair it through many different strategies.
Jo Winston, director of the Office of Victim Services and Programs for the
Wisconsin Department of Corrections said there are many different ways
to implement the restorative justice approach, from victim-offender
dialogue to restitution payments to community service.
“It is a philosophy, a way of looking at crime and a way of involving
victims so they are not simply a bystander, but a part of the process,” she
added.
Winston said she deals solely with victim-offender dialogue cases in
which victims can voluntarily choose to contact their perpetrator. She
added oftentimes this approach is used for the more serious, violent
crimes such as parents of children who have been murdered as the result
of a drunken driving accident, sexual assault victims or incest victims.
The particular approach is often seen as extremely transformative for
both the victims and offenders, she said.
“While a lot of the evidence is anecdotal, what I hear over and over again
is we really have had 99.99 percent of people come out of that meeting
just so grateful,” Winston said. “For victims, it changes the way they see
the offenders — they’re no longer the monster. For offenders, it changes
the way they understand the harm they created.”
Winston did caution, however, that restorative justice is not for
everyone. But, when it is chosen as a means to restore harm, it is often
successful.
Lesson learned?
Ultimately, the ex-ecstasy dealer said he believes he could have better
served out his sentence in the community versus the solitary confines of
the prison world.
He added while restorative justice should be monitored on a “case-bycase” basis, he saw many cohorts in prison who would have also better
served the community outside of prison.
“There’s so many first time, non-violent offenders that would be served
better with community service, or drug addicts in there that are just
picked up for a gram of crack who could really use a good drug rehab
program,” he said. “But really, in the end, I don’t think my punishment
served the community well, and I think I would have been much more
productive outside.”
http://badgerherald.com/news/2009/04/23/restorative-justice/
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The Badger Herald · Restorative justice: part 1 of 2--Choice of healing or punishment - The Badger Herald
10/22/13 10:06 AM
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