Thoughts on creating ‘restorative justice’

Restorative justice, which has been in the news lately, includes some interesting concepts about bringing criminals face to face with their victims to show them the impact of their crimes. The theory is that meeting those victims and hearing what they have suffered can lead to conciliation – or a coming to terms about what happened.

When it works, restorative justice helps the offender take responsibility for his or her actions, possibly out of remorse or an understanding of what the crime has cost the victim.

But will it work in Modesto?

According to the group Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth, our nation’s criminal justice system revolves around answering three questions: 1. What law was broken? 2. Who broke that law? 3. What punishment is warranted?

But restorative justice takes a more victim-centered approach. Then, those three questions change remarkably: 1. Who was harmed? 2. What are the needs and responsibilities of those affected? 3. How do all the affected parties together address needs and repair harm?

There are pocket programs in California – in the Bay Area and in Southern California. There are no restorative justice programs here in Modesto or in Stanislaus County, even for juveniles – for whom this type of program has shown some success. It is believed that early intervention programs are key in rehabilitating juvenile offenders.

I was curious about why restorative justice doesn’t appear to be an option or priority here in Modesto or in Stanislaus County. So I contacted the Modesto Police Department for some answers. In an email interview, Chief Galen Carroll kindly responded to my questions and concerns.

Carroll said restorative justice is an idealistic concept that doesn’t always work out.

“In concept, it sounds like a great idea or plan. Prop 47 (the 2014 voter initiative that converted some felonies to misdemeanors) and AB109 (the 2011 legislation that reduced state prison populations by sending low-level offenders back to crowded county jails) also sounded like great concepts.”

But in our region, law enforcement insists each has contributed to an increase in crime.

In theory, Carroll continued, “drug treatment is a much better way to spend money than locking someone up for the crimes they commit to feed their drug habit.”

“The problem with many of the criminal justice concepts, in my humble opinion, is they study the criminal justice system in a vacuum and very little attention is paid to the biggest variable in all of the concepts and that is the human factor.”

Carroll feels restorative justice could work for a select few – offenders who “admit they were wrong, want to make amends, and actually have a conscience.”

But most criminals don’t have those qualities. For those who don’t, requiring restorative justice remedies in place of punishment “will be jumping through required hoops with little learning or remorse going on.”

Still, I asked, would juvenile offenders be the most likely to benefit by using restorative justice protocols? And wouldn’t that help the community if those lives could be turned around?

“Would Modesto benefit? Maybe in special cases or with those involving juveniles where the goal would be showing right from wrong and the damage that one’s actions has on other people.” Carroll replied. “We could hopefully catch those juveniles at the right time.”

Restorative justice has some viability as a law enforcement tool. Carroll feels strongly that restorative justice – while a valuable tool in some instances – would “fail miserably” unless it was combined with some form of actual punishment “for those who refuse to drink the water, so to speak.”

In other words, we need to use several tools to strike a balance on the scales of justice.

Accountability, a victim’s right to closure and the possibility of punishment can serve as deterrents for those likely to break the law or reoffend. Restorative justice can be used in combination with those tools to make our city and county a safer place to live.

This story was originally published August 4, 2016 at 4:12 PM with the headline "Thoughts on creating ‘restorative justice’."