State Initiative Toward Restorative Justice: The Minnesota Experience (Restorative Justice: International Perspectives, P 493-504, 1996, Burt Galaway and Joe Hudson, eds. -- See NCJ- 172607)

• NCJ Number: 172635
• Author(s): K Pranis
• Date Published: 1996
• Length: 12 pages
• Sale Source: Criminal Justice Press/Willow Tree Press
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This paper identifies the core values of the restorative justice framework being promoted in Minnesota, specifies the guiding principles that underlie efforts to promote greater use of restorative values across the State, and describes actual experiences in this endeavor.

Abstract

The paper first contrasts the core values, guidelines, and principles of the current retributive justice model and the proposed restorative justice model. Restorative justice is not a program or a specific set of programs; it is a way of thinking about how to approach the problem of responding to crime and involves a set of values that guides decisions on policy, programs, and practice. Restorative justice is based on a redefinition of crime as injury to the victim and community, rather than an affront to the power of the State. The primary purpose of the criminal justice system under the restorative model is to repair the harm done by the crime to the degree possible. Victim involvement is essential to define the harm done by the crime and to identify how the harm might be repaired. The reform initiative in Minnesota is based on voluntary participation. Strategies for gaining adherents include training, networking interested professionals to one another, and provision of technical assistance at the local level. The efforts of the initiative have resulted in widespread interest among correctional professionals and pockets of interest among other criminal justice professionals. Greater community involvement is a key element in restorative justice; thus, education efforts have extended beyond the criminal justice system. Challenges for achieving the vision of restorative justice include reform of a system oriented toward punishment, a staff that feels overwhelmed by the magnitude of such a challenge, opposition from some victims groups, risk that the approach will not be applied uniformly, and implementation that fails to reflect underlying restorative justice values. 1 reference