Respect, Responsibility, Repair, Reintegration and Relationship

           These 5 words are the key principles of Restorative Justice and other

                                             Restorative Approaches. 

      These principles are incorporated into all aspects of the Restorative Justice process.

         In the community where I live and work with juveniles who have broken a law we've 

learned that:

 Caring Relationships with Adults

 Boundaries and Expectations &

Hopes and Dreams for the Future

 are the strongest Protective Factors that we can put into place to help our youth avoid being involved in violence or substance abuse. 

      We use Restorative Justice to work with youth in the juvenile justice system and 

their families and those affected by what they have done.

         A Restorative Justice Circle focuses on:

Naming the Harm

Repairing the Harm

         and Assuring the Community of its Safety (No future offenses)

            We accomplish these goals by having those affected by the incident coming together 

so that  everyone has an opportunity to participate in talking about what happened.  

           How were they affected? How do they feel now? 

What needs to happen to repair  the harm? 

   When discussing the event, the youth ( both victim and offender) are given the opportunity

 to look for moments in the flow of events when different decisions might have been made. 

    This kind of self-reflection, accountability and response- ability is rarely included in the 

standard juvenile justice process and they provide a unique and powerful opportunity for 

insight and behavioral change to begin. 

By identifying the injuries and naming ways to repair that harm, a Restorative 

approach can become “medicine” and create a foundation for a just peace.   

      Safe, incremental "steps" to reconciliation between the youth happen in the RJ Circle in 

form of various short exercises where they can "practice" possible future encounters. 

   At the end of the process, a Restorative Plan is created and agreed upon by all the 

participants.  The RJ Plan includes ways to repair the harm and identifies specific activities 

for the offender to accomplish, to prevent future problems.  

  One unique strength of the RJ process is that the RJ Circle illuminates the harm that 

was done to the identified victim, but also illuminates the harm done to others; to the family 

of the identified offender, to the offender him/her self, and to other members of the 

community. 

   Using the five principles of Respect, Responsibility, Repair, Reintegration and Relationship, 

Restorative approaches can be be used to illuminate values as well as emerging areas 

of conflict and lay the foundation for strengthening the positive interactions that individual 

and community life depends upon. 

Want to know more about what I've been up to?

Go to rose-underthebigbluesky.blogspot.com  

or visit http://www.circleofcompassionatecare.com