June 17, 2021

The basement of a church, a courtroom, a first-grade classroom, a kitchen: Broadly defined, the practice of restorative justice can suit any space, in any situation where one person has harmed another. Yet, at the same time, the term faces the same slippery fate as other social justice buzzwords. What does it actually mean?

Simply put: Restorative justice provides a cooperative transformation for the community while honoring the individual needs of the people who were harmed. When it comes to sexual harm, it can offer a new path for survivors.

The traditional court system process “essentializes” sexual harm, allowing only a few outcomes that ignore the survivor’s actual needs. It’s a broken system that most often relies on incarceration, resulting in rapidly growing prison populations and the disruption of marginalized communities while retraumatizing and minimizing survivors. Restorative justice, on the other hand, invites survivors to define accountability and repair. 

Restorative Justice in Practice 

Restorative justice is a process for repairing the harm caused by criminal behavior. All willing parties, including the person who was harmed, the person who caused harm, and other stakeholders, work together to address what happened and how to bring about a resolution.   

The Process

In practice, restorative justice typically involves a conversation between the parties and developing an agreeable resolution. In an article for The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, attorney Judy D. Tsui writes that there are three hallmarks of restorative justice: “victim-offender mediation, family or community group conferencing, and peacemaking or sentencing circles.”

Victim-Offender Mediation

The concept of “victim-offender mediation” is the most common practice within the criminal legal system. A trained mediator meets with the perpetrator and the person they harmed in a safe space, walks the two parties through the harms caused, and helps them work out ways to repair it. 

Community Group Conferencing

According to Tsui, family or group conferencing takes victim-offender mediation to the next level and brings in selected support people for both parties. It enables the perpetrator to take accountability for their actions while understanding the impact on people beyond the direct victim. 

Peacemaking Circles

A third layer can be peacemaking or sentencing circles which were originally used in Indigenous cultures. These circles aim to “reach consensus between the victim, the offender, their respective supporters, and the community—judges, police officers, and so on—on an acceptable sentence for the crime committed.” By bringing the community into a circle, the end goal is an outcome that works within shared cultural values.

Restorative Justice Can Be Powerful

People who use restorative justice in their communities see it as a powerful tool for accountability and collaboration that centers on the victim while giving the perpetrator a chance to change. By allowing the person who was harmed to define accountability in the situation, restorative justice recognizes that not all survivors are the same and can want outcomes outside of the status quo. 

As the executive director at  West Side Justice Center (WSJC), Tanya D. Woods leads an organization that uses restorative practices. She believes they are particularly impactful in disenfranchised communities.

“It’s a tool that’s become more useful in historically-criminalized communities: communities of color, communities that have for generations been without resources, communities that have been penalized for not having those resources,” she says. “In this country, we wind up punishing people in a form that looks very similar to a caste system. Restorative justice becomes a great tool in shoring up and reinvesting in those communities that have been divested from.”

Woods believes that restorative practices must be approached holistically in order for them to be truly transformative. “If it’s taken in its totality—not just as a band-aid approach or a trend—then it can truly make a difference.”

Like the WSJC, CAASE is invested in a comprehensive approach to restorative justice in our communities. We know that nurturing and growing these programs can offer more options to survivors, and we’ve advocated for legislation that strengthens restorative justice’s possibilities. 

Restorative Justice in Chicago

If you’d like to learn more about restorative justice in Chicago, check out these organizations: 

• Precious Blood Ministry of Reconciliation
• BUILD Chicago
• Kenwood-Oakland Community Organization
• Lawndale Christian Legal Center
• ALSO-Chicago

  This piece was authored by KT Hawbaker and edited by Hayley Forrestal of CAASE. Learn more about our staff here.