December 2020 Research on Restorative Justice Practices Bailey Maryfield, M.S., Roger Przybylski, M.S., and Mark Myrent, M.A. Introduction tional ways to hold offenders accountable while also addressing the needs of victims. The information also This research brief is the first in a series of reports on can help researchers identify pressing needs for future the concept, application and effectiveness of restor- inquiry, particularly with regard to specific restorative ative justice practices in criminal and juvenile justice. justice applications and their effectiveness across a It describes the overall premise of restorative justice, range of victim, offender and system outcomes. defines the prominent restorative justice approaches being used in the justice system today, and summa- What is Restorative Justice? rizes findings from contemporary synthesis research on the effectiveness of restorative justice in reducing Restorative justice practices in the criminal and ju- recidivism and promoting other positive outcomes venile justice systems are based on the premise that for offenders and victims. Future reports in the series crime is a violation of people and of interpersonal will take deeper dives into real-world applications of relationships and therefore it is important to remedy restorative justice as well as research findings on the the harm caused by a criminal act (Przybylski, 2008; effectiveness of specific restorative justice approach- Latimer et al., 2001). “To be fully accountable, offend- es. ers need to acknowledge their behavior was harmful to others and take action to repair that harm to the Information presented in this research brief is in- fullest extent possible” (Przybylski, 2008, p. 72). Re- tended to promote a more in-depth and up-to-date storative justice approaches provide a mechanism for understanding of restorative justice and its effec- doing so through processes such as: tiveness. Given the growing interest in offender diversion and alternatives to incarceration across the • Victim-offender mediation country, information on restorative justice practices • Victim-offender dialogue and research arguably has value for a wide audience, • Restorative justice conferencing including policy makers, program developers and • Reparative boards researchers. Indeed, the use of restorative justice, the • Victim impact panels types of practices found in the field and the stages of • Peacemaking circles the justice system in which restorative practices are • Apology banks used have expanded significantly in recent years. The knowledge base about the effectiveness of restorative History of Restorative Justice justice has become more robust, too. While many of the values and principles of restorative Information on the various restorative justice practices justice can be traced to indigenous cultures (Umbre- that are now available, how they are used in criminal it & Greenwood, 2000), restorative justice practice and juvenile justice, and the empirical evidence on in the justice system arguably first emerged in 1974 their effectiveness can help policy makers and pro- in Canada in a vandalism case in Kitchener, Ontario gram developers identify and adopt restorative prac- (Wright & Galaway, 1989). Often referred to as the tices that help meet the need for effective, non-tradi- Kitchener Experiment, the perpetrators of the crime This project was supported by Grant No. 2018-86-CX-K038 awarded by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. Points of view in this document are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the US Department of Justice. JRSA Research Brief: Research on Restorative Justice Practices were required to meet with their victims and pay example, only fourteen state laws codified the term re- restitution, rather than undergo traditional court pro- storative justice” (González, 2020, p. 1029). By 2015, cessing. Over the next two decades, a number of small at least 34 states had passed legislation promoting the scale, experimental programs modeled on the Kitchen- use of restorative justice practices in their juvenile or er Experiment were implemented in jurisdictions both adult criminal justice systems (Sliva & Lambert 2015). in Canada and the U.S., primarily for use with first- By 2019, forty-five states had “codified restorative jus- time offenders involved in minor crimes. By the mid- tice into statutory or regulatory law” (Gonzales, 2020, 1990s, the American Bar Association had endorsed p. 1031). As jurisdictions across the U.S. continue to the practice of victim-offender mediation (Umbreit & look for diversion practices and alternatives to incar- Greenwood, 2000), and the National Organization for ceration that hold offenders accountable, meet the Victim Assistance (NOVA) had published a report titled needs of victims, and promote public safety, restor- Restorative Community Justice: A Call to Action, both ative justice practices are likely to become even more of which promoted the expansion of restorative justice mainstream than they are today. practices in justice and other settings (Armour, n.d.). Originally used primarily in the juvenile justice system It is important to note that the emergence of the with first time offenders accused of minor crimes, re- restorative justice movement coincided with the storative justice programs are now increasingly being emergence and growth of the victim’s rights move- used in the adult criminal justice system as a diver- ment (Armour, n.d.), and particularly the call for greater sion from prosecution or alternative to incarceration involvement of victims in justice system processes. As for more serious offenders. Since restorative justice the U.S. Department of Justice, Office for Victims of practices focus on the restoration of harms rather than Crime’s (OVC) 2000 report focused on the restorative on punishment or retribution, they provide a mecha- practice of victim-offender mediation stated: “It seeks nism for holding offenders accountable while reducing more balanced and effective juvenile and criminal reliance on incarceration and the potential for the justice systems that recognize the need to involve and negative collateral consequences that can accompany serve victims and victimized communities” (Umbreit a criminal conviction or time behind bars. & Greenwood, 2000, p. IX). Current federal regula- tions allow for OVC funding to be used to support Restorative justice practices also are being used as a restorative justice programs. Ultimately, each state supplement to conventional offender processing, even administering agency (SAA) maintains the discretion to with offenders convicted of serious crimes. Victim-of- determine what restorative justice activities it wishes fender dialog, for example, is being used post-con- to fund and has the responsibility of monitoring and viction – typically in prison settings – with offenders overseeing the program (See 28 C.F.R. 94.120(g)). convicted of crimes such as murder or serious assault. These types of restorative justice applications are Indeed, the victim-centered approach that character- always victim-initiated and require the involvement of izes restorative justice can help better meet the needs specialized facilitators. Experimental approaches have of victims and strengthen ties between the offender also recently emerged in domestic violence and child and others – including the community – thereby pro- welfare settings. Indeed, a range of restorative justice moting desistance from crime for participating offend- applications are now being used not only in the justice ers and increased satisfaction with the justice system system, but also in school and community settings for participating victims. (Armour, n.d.). While restorative justice programs have been in exis- The next section of this report describes the most tence for decades, their use has expanded significantly common restorative justice applications being used in in recent years. As a mechanism for repairing harm, criminal and juvenile justice today, including victim-of- addressing the needs of victims and communities, and fender mediation, victim-offender dialogue, restorative promoting offender accountability and desistance from justice conferencing, reparative boards, victim impact crime, restorative justice has grown from an experi- panels, peacemaking circles, and apology banks. It is mental practice in the 1970s to a valuable component important to note that for each of these applications, of criminal and juvenile practice in virtually every participation is completely voluntary for victims, but state today (González, 2020). “From 1990 to 2000, for not always so for offenders. 2 JRSA Research Brief: Research on Restorative Justice Practices Common Applications Being Used in and completely trained in facilitating such cases (JUST Criminal and Juvenile Justice Alternatives website, 2020). Cases of murder, sexual assault, kidnapping, armed robbery, manslaughter, and other such deeply traumatizing crimes are among the Victim-Offender Mediation many that have been successfully facilitated. Cases in which the offender acted in severely psychopathic or Victim-offender mediation (VOM) programs provide sadistic ways require facilitators with special training, victims of property crimes the opportunity to “meet as do cases involving domestic assault, sexual assault, offenders in a safe, structured setting and engage in a and sexual exploitation. mediated