Seeks Healing and Accountability
Restorative Justice practices are centuries old, deeply rooted in indigenous philosophies and ancient people of faith that value healing over punishment. Native American and First Nation practices have included healing circles and peacemaking as responses to crime and conflict.
Restorative Justice is a response to crime and violence that shifts the focus from punishment to “responsibility, rehabilitation and restoration.” It holds offenders accountable even as it opens paths to healing, especially with victims. And it addresses the needs of everyone affected by crime: victims, offenders, families, communities, and those working in the criminal
justice system.
Our Catholic understanding of justice is balanced between compassion and understanding for the people harmed by others (victims) with accountability and mercy for people that have caused harm (offenders). Restorative justice focuses on “what needs to happen to make things right” after the harm has occurred, in contrast to our current system of retributive justice that focuses solely on the punishment of an offender.
We are not going to incarcerate our way out of crime. That has already been proven. Restorative Justice is a way of understanding crime and wrongdoing in terms of people and relationships impacted, rather than the law broken. Contrary to popular belief, accountability does not mean punishment. Through willing participation in a restorative justice process, perpetrators discover their remorse and make a conscious choice to refrain from committing further crimes because of a change of heart and mind rather than fear of incarceration or punishment, which has proven unsustainable.
Restorative Justice is all about restoring our community after a crime especially an act of violence. Through restoration, we’re able to move forward and build up our community, neighborhood, and city. The end result is a place, in physical space and in our hearts, that is better than it was before. In this better world, would-be offenders would see that crime is not a solution to any problem; instead, they would turn to the community for help when they need it.
When Jesus encounters the woman caught in the act of adultuery as she is about to be put to death by a group of men, He asks one question: “Who among you is without sin?” Jesus was teaching us to find ways to be merciful, and still find ways to hold an offender accountable. “Go, and sin no more.”