Another state has embraced restorative justice principles as an option available to its criminal justice responses to crimes in its juvenile justice system.

Washington state’s Senate unanimously passed House Bill 1775, initially introduced by Rep. Roger Goodman (D-Kirkland), after an earlier unanimous House vote in support of the Goodman bill in February. The bill now goes to Democratic  Governor Chris Gregoire for approval.

To urge Governor Gregoire to support HB 1775, go to http://www.governor.wa.gov/contact/.

Washington adopted its reforms just under a year after similar moves toward restorative justice were enacted in Colorado. In a recent guest post here, Jeannette Holtham reported on further hearings before the Colorado legislature to implement restorative justice practices in schools. The reform efforts have been ongoing, as eductors, parents and students spoke out against the school-to-prison pipeline.

“Washington is a national leader in using evidence-based strategies to reduce juvenile crime, and all of the evidence proves that restorative justice is very effective at changing the behavior of juveniles and making victims feel whole again,” Goodman told the Kirkland Reporter. Goodman serves as vice chair of the House Judiciary Committee.

Washington State's Representative Roger Goodman, sponsor of the unanimously passed law to include restorative practices among options for juvenile justice resources.

“It’s amazing that when an offender in a restorative justice program takes responsibility for a crime and says he’s sorry, the victim almost always says the offender is forgiven,” said Goodman.  “Instead of fueling a cycle of increasing alienation and crime, these programs encourage a cycle of restoration that reconnects the offender with the community and reduces repeat offenses,” Goodman said.

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Restorative Justice in action – Prison Fellowship’s Justice Fellowship offers key elements of effective restorative programs:

8 Restorative Justice Practices for Effective RJ Programs

1. Make available victim-offender mediation sessions
2. Create diversion programs that move nonviolent, minimal risk offenders out of prison and into community-based treatment
3. Offer reentry preparation for offenders anticipating release
4. Remove barriers to offenders’ successful reintegration into society, such as restrictions on residency or employment that are not necessary to protect public safety
5. Modify prison sentence lengths to justly reflect the harm caused by the crime committed
6. Protect offenders from violence while they are in prison
7. Strengthen the families of offenders
8. Increase opportunities for prisoners’ transformation by protecting their religious freedom and their access to mentoring relationships.

In this blog I often use the phrase “Restorative Justice” and “restorative process,” assuming my readers know what I mean by the terms. Today, as I was reflecting on ways to communicate a concrete example of the process, I searched my online sources in Restorative Justice and found a video (below) which I hope you will watch and consider on the website of RestorativeJustice.org. If you like it, please share it with friends who care about peacemaking. (Hit “Reload” or “Refresh” on your browser if the video doesn’t immediately load.)

Watch and listen with an open heart to this example of restorative justice at work.  A lifelong repeat offender, a heroin addict, sits down with a victim of one of his crimes. [pullquote]This is not one of those prime time news videos in which the crime victim is given a few minutes to pour out her feelings in a an emotional victim impact statement, while the cameras roll. [/pullquote]This is a video documentation of a process in which a crime victim shares his sense of being violated, the sense of outrage, loss and damages he feels as a result of the offender’s crime. Often, there is a sense of impotence and powerlessness and a failure to  defend loved ones.

As a brief introduction to this restorative justice video, here’s a blurb from the website:

“Peter Woolf was a prolific offender, ensconced in a world of violence and depravity, who, by his own reckoning committed about 20,000 crimes. Then he burgled a house, fought with his victim and ended up in prison yet again. This time though it was different. Peter met with his victim, Will, in a restorative justice session that took place in the prison. The meeting changed both their lives for ever.”
[pullquote]Peter and Will tell their stories in this film which coincides with the launch of Peter’s book, The Damage Done published by Bantam Press and the launch of Why me? founded by Will, a campaign group set up by and for victims of crime who have benefited from restorative justice and want others to be able to benefit from the same opportunity.[/pullquote]

In our criminal justice system, the offender is defined as having committed a “crime against the state.” The victim of the crime is a bystander who sits in a public gallery, not a participant in the process. The person most directly harmed and affected by the crime is the one least involved in the process. They’re given no input into the proceedings.

In sharp contrast, a Restorative Justice process  (which is much more than a brief shouting and crying session with a counselor present) gives the crime victim an opportunity to ask the offender, “Why did you do that? Do you understand how that affects me?” And it gives the offender a chance to be accountable as a human being, and to share his(or her) own feelings in response to the confrontation or about the crime incident. In this video, the offender initiates real chanes in behavior. The offender-victim conferences give the victim of the crime a chance to express his/her rage, and a chance to acknowledge the humanity of the one responsible for the harm.  Restoration is more likely to occur in these settings than in a lengthy incarceration which is totally detached from the victims of the crime.

Please share this video posting with your social networks. I welcome your comments on this blog, too.

Editor’s Note:  As someone who came recently to the Restorative Justice (RJ) community, I have been impressed by the generosity of RJ practitioners, wherever they apply restorative principles.  Today’s guest blogger, Jeannette Holtham, is an example of that generosity.  Jeannette has been active in helping to implement restorative practices in Colorado schools, testifying last week in support of that state’s SB 12-046.  As readers of this blog may know, restorative justice activists in Colorado have chalked up several successes in their efforts to implement restorative justice practices in a variety of appropriate settings in the state.  Here is her summary of recent legislative efforts:

Replacing ‘Zero Tolerance’ in Schools with Restorative Practices

Guest blogger Jeannette Holtham testified in support of SB 12-046 for restorative justice practices in Colorado

Zero tolerance policies for schools are on the ropes in Colorado.  Senate Bill 12-046 hopes to give the final knockout punch in the current legislative session.  The bill has been in the ring for more than two years now with proponents of restorative justice attending school task force meetings to help fine-tune this milestone bill.  Law enforcement lobbyists have had a major presence along with schools, school advocacy groups, and non-profit leaders across the state.

As Youth Transformation Center founding president and author of Taking Restorative Justice to Schools: A Doorway to Discipline”, I testified to the Senate Education Committee this past week in order to clarify a number of misconceptions about restorative justice.

1. Restorative justice is voluntary.  No one is forced into an RJ circle dialog unless the offender is willing to face his/her victim in a sincere effort to repair harm and unless a victim feels safe enough to participate.
2. Restorative justice isn’t appropriate for every situation; for example, incidents and behaviors that require a therapeutic response (domestic violence, sexual assault, 3^rd level chronic bullying) or a law enforcement response (weapons and drug use/sale that threaten the safety of the school).
3. Restorative justice works especially well to reduce interpersonal conflicts in schools (gossip, name calling, 1^st level bullying, picking on weaker students), minor physical altercations (pushing, shoving, kicking), and classroom disruption.
4. Restorative justice reduces teacher burnout by giving our educators vital tools to help our communities raise responsible, socially astute young adults.
5. Too many of our children have been “thrown away” through the overuse of suspension, expulsion and police ticketing for minor to moderate offenses that are better handled in schools.  Restorative justice keeps kids in school.
   

   Colorado's Youth Transformation Center poster for Restorative Justice in schools.

Considering the fact that zero tolerance policies have led to an overuse of suspension and expulsion which have led to high dropout rates and the school to prison pipeline, and considering that in Colorado schools lose $6,800 for each student that drops out of school (and we pay $68,000 for every child that we warehouse in a prison), this milestone legislation is a no brainer.

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After posting Jeannette Holtham’s guest blog, a reader sent me a youtube video documenting last Fall’s nationwide push back against “Push Out” policies of school zero tolerance practices.  Jeannette did not recommend this link, but it seems to reinforce the message in her blog post. I welcome your comments.