Men As Peacemakers

What They Are

Meetings between victims, their offenders, and members of the affected community are important ways to address the relational dimension of crime and justice. It is accepted that the following three methods are hallmarks of restorative justice. Each requires that the offender admit responsibility for the offence. Each is limited to parties who volunteer to participate.

• Victim offender mediation. This is a process that provides an interested victim the opportunity to meet his offender in a safe and structured setting, engaging in a discussion of the crime with the assistance of a trained mediator. The goals of victim offender mediation include: permitting victims to meet their offenders on a voluntary basis, encouraging the offender to learn about the crime's impact and to take responsibility for the resulting harm, and providing victim and offender the opportunity to develop a plan that addresses the harm. There are more than 300 victim offender mediation programs in North America, and over 500 in Europe. Research on such programs has found higher satisfaction among victims and offenders who participated in mediation, lower fear among victims, a greater likelihood that the offender will complete a restitution obligation, and fewer offenders committing new offences, than among those who went through the normal court process.
• Family or Community Group Conferencing. This process brings together the victim, offender, and family, friends and key supporters of both in deciding how to address the aftermath of the crime. The goals of conferencing include: giving the victim an opportunity to be directly involved in responding to the crime, increasing the offender's awareness of the impact of his or her behaviour and providing an opportunity to take responsibility for it, engaging the offenders' support system for making amends and shaping the offender's future behaviour, and allowing the offender and the victim to connect to key community support. Conferencing was adapted from Maori traditional practices in New Zealand, where it is operated out of the social services department, and was further modified in Australia for use by police. It is now in use in North America, Europe, and southern Africa in one of those two forms. It has been used with juvenile offenders (most New Zealand juvenile cases are handled by conferencing) and with adult offenders. Research on such programs shows very high degrees of satisfaction by victims and offenders with the process and results.
• Peacemaking or Sentencing Circles. This is a process designed to develop consensus among community members, victims, victim supporters, offenders, offender supporters, judges, prosecutors, defence counsel, police and court workers on an appropriate sentencing plan that addresses the concerns of all interested parties. The goals of circles include: promoting healing of all affected parties, giving the offender the opportunity to make amend, giving victims, offenders, family members and communities a voice and shared responsibility in finding constructive resolutions, addressing underlying causes of criminal behaviour, and building a sense of community around shared community values. Circles were adapted from certain Native American traditional practices, and are being used throughout North America.

Repairing The Harm Caused By Crime

Each of the hallmark restorative justice processes -- victim offender mediation, community or family group conferencing, and peacemaking or sentencing circles - ends with an agreement on how the offender will make amends for the harm caused by the crime. Two traditional criminal justice sanctions are used in restorative responses to crime: restitution and community service.

• Restitution is the payment by an offender of a sum of money to compensate the victim for the financial losses caused by the crime. It is justified in a restorative perspective as a method of holding offenders accountable for their wrongdoing, and as a method of repairing the victim's injury. Restitution can be determined in the course of mediation, conferencing or circles; it can also be ordered by a judge. In other words, it is a potentially restorative outcome that may result from either a restorative or a conventional process. Studies have shown that restitution increases victim satisfaction with the justice process. Some studies have shown that the use of restitution was associated with reductions in recidivism. Other studies have shown that when restitution is determined during mediation, it is more likely to actually be paid than when it results from court order alone.
• Community service is work performed by an offender for the benefit of the community. It is justified in a restorative perspective as a method of addressing the harm experienced by communities when a crime occurs. However, it can be used instead for retributive reasons or as a means of rehabilitating the offender. What distinguishes its use as a restorative response is the attention given to identifying the particular harm suffered by the community as a result of the offender's crime, and the effort to ensure that the offender's community service repairs that particular harm. So, for example, offenders who put graffiti on buildings in a neighborhood can be given the community service of removing graffiti from buildings in that neighborhood. Community service programs in Africa build on customary processes for making amends, thus addressing community concerns and easing the offender's reintegration into the community.