From Destruction to Reconciliation

SUMMARY

Daniel Johnson discusses how the application of “restorative justice” in his own life and in the life of the victim of his criminal offense contributed to his personal regeneration and healing for his victim. Mr. Johnson challenges criminal justice policy-makers to create conditions where “restorative justice” can be employed in the broadest sense in order to do what contemporary, punitive, retributive criminal justice systems are largely incapable of doing, that is, facilitate lasting offender rehabilitation and healing for crime victims and communities, and to offer opportunities for victim-offender reconciliations.     

Justice that Restores

SUMMARY

Restorative justice is a movement within criminal justice that draws from a conception of justice as personal rather than impersonal. This article offers a definition of restorative justice and describes its hallmark programs: victim offender mediation, conferencing, circles, restitution, and community service. It explores the differences between restorative justice and contemporary criminal justice, including their relative strengths. Whereas criminal justice derives from an impersonal conception of justice, restorative justice draws from a personal understanding. Differences between the two views of justice are described, and a brief survey of history and cultures demonstrates that personal conceptions of justice have played, and continue to play, significant roles in shaping societies' responses to crime.     

The Practice and Efficacy of Restorative Justice

SUMMARY

Beginning with an exploration of the importance of understanding the power of questions, this paper examines the question, “Does it work?” regarding restorative justice as a philosophy and a set of practices based on that philosophy. The paper identifies problems in the dominant retributive philosophical paradigm for responding to crime that the philosophy of restorative justice resolves. The author describes the practices of restorative justice in criminal justice as well as other contexts and presents evidence of effectiveness in achieving restorative outcomes. The paper discusses challenges and limitations in restorative practices.     

Nurturing the Seeds of Restorative Justice

Abstract

Communities are looking for community-building responses to the issue of crime. Traditional social and political discourses have presented only two responses to crime, “get tough” or rehabilitate offenders. An alternative view has begun to emerge in community criminal justice discourse and practice. Restorative justice emphasizes the restoration of relationships and community peace that are damaged by the harm of crime, and the repair of these social injuries. This article presents the findings of a pilot study that was conducted to assess a community's openness to restorative justice principles.     

Perceptions of Adult Protective Services Workers of the Support Provided by Criminal Justice Professionals in a Case of Elder Abuse

ABSTRACT

This paper summarizes results of a 1997 survey of adult protective services workers in 43 states. The survey yielded ratings of police and victim assistants in detecting and treating elder abuse and estimates of the likelihood that criminal justice professionals would provide ten forms of assistance in a case of elder abuse. Respondents also reported the most helpful services supplied by criminal justice professionals, the services that were most difficult to obtain, and overall ratings of criminal justice professionals in cases of elder abuse. Findings provide insights about relationships between adult protective services workers and criminal justice professionals.     

Pathologising the victim: law and the construction of people with disabilities as victims of crime in Ireland

Victimologists have for many years explored the construction of identities associated with the ‘victim of crime’, and how certain groups in society are understood as more ‘deserving’ of victim status than others. This paper considers the victim subjectivities ascribed to people with disabilities¹¹ In Ireland, ‘people with disabilities’ is the preferred term to ‘disabled people’.View all notes as victims of crime in Ireland by exploring the legal frameworks that shape their encounters with the criminal justice system. The legislative bricolage that exists is shaped by disjuncture, whereby anti-discrimination measures grounded in people with disabilities’ equal rights to access the justice system sit alongside those that construct them in terms of incapacity. Criminal law overwhelmingly pathologises people with disabilities as crime victims, with impairment dominating their victim status. The paper suggests that notions of victimhood that associate people with disabilities with dependency and passivity will do little to raise awareness of the disabling barriers that characterise their encounters with the criminal justice system.     

Restorative Justice

Abstract

Restorative justice is the growing movement that aims to change the direction of criminal law by focusing it on the needs of victims and repairing communities. The focus of this article is on three restorative initiatives-family group conferencing, victim-offender mediation, and reparations. The link between social work and restorative justice is explored in each of these areas.     

The Micropolitics of Victim–Offender Mediation

Victim–offender mediation is one of the most widely used practices of restorative justice encounter in the United States. We report findings from research on a victim–offender mediation program sponsored by an American juvenile court. Our specific concern is with power relations at the micro level of the mediation session. Restorative justice has been alternately criticized for controlling its participants too much and for controlling them too little. Some critics point to the silencing of participants, especially those of low social status like youth. Others point to the failure of restorative justice participants to effectively challenge attitudes conducive to crime. We consider the extent to which lay participants were silenced and/or challenged during mediation sessions. Our data suggest that power is diffuse in restorative justice encounters with juvenile offenders and that it is creatively deployed to achieve a variety of purposes. Consistent with restorative justice theories, which consider crime causation broadly, attitudes conducive to crime were not systematically addressed. The analysis underscores the complexity of both restorative justice and its evaluation.     

Mental Health and Criminal Justice Issues Among Perpetrators of Elder Abuse

ABSTRACT

Recent studies on elder abuse suggest that the pathology or impairment of the abuser may be a stronger predictor of elder abuse than characteristics of the victim. To examine the relationship between elder abuse, abuser pathology, and the criminal justice system, the New York City Department for the Aging (DFTA) undertook a survey of older victims of reported domestic abuse seeking assistance from the DFTA Elderly Crime Victims Resource Center. Preliminary findings from the survey indicate that impaired abusers were significantly younger than unimpaired abusers and more likely to live with their elderly victims, to be unemployed, and to have a history of involvement with the criminal justice system.     

‘Community fear and harassment’: learning difficulties and hate crime incidents in the north-east of England

The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between impairment, disabling barriers and risk factors relating to hate crime incidents. The study analyses quantitative data collected in 2011–2012 where there were 81 incidents of disability hate crime reported in the Tyne and Wear area of England. The research discovered that in the Tyne and Wear region people with learning difficulties have a greater likelihood of experiencing hate crime than do people with other impairments. Although there was no significant difference between impairment and types of hate crime incidents recorded (i.e. verbal abuse/harassment, violence and criminal damage), there were distinct differences between police and victim support responses to victims which correlated to impairment categories (p ≤ 0.05). The study concludes by suggesting that owing to specific disabling barriers experienced by people with learning difficulties, this group is at increased risk of being victimised and is less likely to receive support from criminal justice agencies.     

Exploring the Social Construction of Crime by Neighborhood: News Coverage of Crime in Boston

ABSTRACT

Information disseminated by the news shapes the way that the public perceives criminal events, often providing a distorted view of crime. Previous research has largely overlooked neighborhoods in discussions of how the news portrays crime. This study examines the ways that the news media report the neighborhoods in which homicides, robberies, and assaults are committed. Multiple theoretical perspectives rooted in the law of opposites and racial typification provide differing explanations for the reporting of crime. Using Boston as a test site, this study employs a content analysis of The Boston Globe crime articles to identify the neighborhoods in which instances of homicide, robbery, and assault receive coverage. A comparison with official crime data from the Boston Police Department suggests differences in neighborhood reporting trends for robbery and assault but not for homicide. Specifically, the news media tend to disproportionately report more robberies and assaults in neighborhoods with lower levels of neighborhood disadvantage. Implications for the social construction of crime and neighborhoods as well as criminal justice response for disadvantaged neighborhoods are discussed.     

Conflict Resolution,Restorative Justice Approaches and Bullying in Young People’s Residential Units

Restorative justice has been an increasing feature in the discourses within adult and youth justice criminal justice systems in recent years. This article examines interpersonal conflicts arising from crime, bullying and antisocial behaviour in residential care, and the advantages and disadvantages of utilising such approaches in relation to these forms of conflict, based upon an evaluation of restorative principles and approaches from the perspectives of young people, residential workers and managers. The article sets out how the staff in the units studied modified restorative justice approaches to take into account the specific relationships within group care settings.     

Emerging Issues

SUMMARY

Restorative Justice is coming into focus for many faith communities as an important shift in response to crime. This paper examines the history of our response to crime and describes the response of a number of faith communities. Extended treatment is given to the November 2000 statement by the United States Catholic Bishops, Responsibility, Rehabilitation and Restoration: A Catholic Perspective on Crime and Criminal Justice. Their approach to crime and criminal justice is reviewed, including a special emphasis on the Catholic Church's teaching on the option for the poor and includes policy recommendations for church and society. Examples of activity at the local, state and national levels are given. The paper documents some effects of the bishops' statement on community and legislative activity at the local, state and national levels.     

A qualitative data analysis: family victim advocates in child advocacy centers

ABSTRACT

Family victim advocates in child advocacy centers provide a valuable resource to children and parents involved in child abuse investigations. This work requires that family victim advocates be knowledgeable in such areas as child development, crisis intervention, community resources, family relationships, child welfare and criminal justice systems. Because family victim advocates provide essential services to parents and caregivers, the role requires ongoing training and education to remain current on the ever-changing complexities of working with not only the children and families but also the criminal and child protection systems responsible for investigating these cases. The current study reports the findings from a nationwide survey of family victim advocates employed in child advocacy centers related to their motivation for doing the work as well as their perceptions of their training and potential training needs. A group of doctoral students comprised the research team and worked collaboratively under the supervision of university faculty to conduct the qualitative data analysis. The findings describe the characteristics and motivations of family victim advocates working in child advocacy centers and emphasize the need for more advanced trainings that focus on skill-building and strengths-based practices utilized to support children and parents in child abuse cases.     

Comparing the Lifestyles of Victims,Offenders, and Victim-Offenders: A Routine Activity Theory Assessment of Similarities and Differences for Criminal Incident Participants

Abstract

Drawing on routine activity theory, this paper examines a sample of college students involved in criminal assault to assess whether victims, offenders, and those who are both victims and offenders show similarities on demographic, social activity, neighborhood, exposure, illegal activities, and alcohol and drug use variables. This research tests previous claims that criminal victims and offenders have numerous shared characteristics and behaviors. For all three groups a wide range of sophisticated measures of lifestyle are used to predict the likelihood of involvement in criminal incidents of assault. Victimization risks are primarily explained by indicators of individuals' exposure to offenders. Likelihood of offending is most usefully explained by demographics and participation in other illegal behaviors. Being both a victim and offender of assault is explained by a more complex set of indicators, encompassing a wide range of factors. Based on these results it appears that, for the crime of assault, victims, offenders, and victim-offenders are three distinct groups, identifiable by varying lifestyle measures. Results provide moderate support for routine activity theory and strongly support the need for refined measures of lifestyle when assessing criminal incident involvement.     

From Fury to Forgiveness

SUMMARY

This autobiographical piece chronicles the kidnap and subsequent murder of the author's youngest daughter during a camping vacation in Montana and the author's spiritual journey from hate to healing. Once the case was resolved, Jaeger Lane relates the impact of this event as a speaking/writing ministry evolved around the issues of forgiveness, reconciliation and advocating for the abolition of the death penalty as a person of faith and as the mother of a murder victim. She ends with her experience of seeing first-hand the success of utilizing restorative justice principles in the rehabilitation of errants and addicts.     

The Legal Response to Elder Abuse and Neglect

ABSTRACT

The United States legal system, both civil and criminal, has been underutilised in dealing with elder abuse and neglect. Social service and health practitioners have been unfamiliar with the language and procedures in legal settings. Legal remedies have been obscure or inadequate to address the problems. When elder abuse and neglect were first “discovered” in the late 1970s, efforts focused on safeguarding the victim through civil justice remedies, i.e., guardianships, mandatory reporting laws, adult protective services. The criminal justice system also became involved in order to hold the alleged wrongdoer accountable. Specialised units have developed in police departments and prosecutor offices to deal with the criminal behavior. New laws are providing more flexibility for the legal system, both civil and criminal. A multidisciplinary approach to elder abuse and neglect is needed because abused or neglected elders are frequently involved with many agencies. Attention to the legal aspects of the issue are apparent in the Summit Conference held by the National Center on Elder Abuse in 2001 and the development of the Elder Justice Act which was introduced into the U.S. Senate in 2003.     

Becoming an Ally: Breaking the Cycle of Oppression (2nd edn)

Abstract

In the present context of “get tough on crime” and “back to criminal justice” campaigns that continue to dominate political agendas throughout Australia, critics point to the inadequacy of “welfarist” or reformist criminological and sociological theories that have informed interventions in the past and reinforce the need for “retributive justice” models of penal policy. The present paper examines historical evidence on the role of the human sciences in juvenile justice administration during the 1940s, a formative time when psychiatric, psychological, and social work expertise came together in the form of the Children's Court Clinic in Victoria. It suggests that contemporary critiques about the failure of the welfare model of juvenile justice inadequately capture the historical functioning of expertise in justice administration and the real extent to which the welfare model as “actual rehabilitative intervention” was ever implemented.     

A new coat of paint: The bluewashing of justice reinvestment and realignment to community reinvestment

Justice reinvestment has been hailed as a solution to mass incarceration across the United States for nearly 20 years. It suggests that inefficiencies in the criminal justice system can be eliminated to reinvest money in high-incarceration communities to reduce the correlates of crime. However, the implementations have focused on reinvesting criminal justice funds back into public safety, which has led to the “bluewashing” of justice reinvestment. Introduced here, bluewashing occurs when a justice agency that has historically poor social justice performance communicates positive justice performance after implementing a theoretically supported reform in name only. In actuality, the reform has been modified to suit their own continuance. A realignment of the logic and theoretical support of justice reinvestment is critical to produce reforms that can provide relief for states, agencies, and citizens that are promised by justice reinvestment. This work directly connects the justice reinvestment thesis with the spatial interconnectedness of poverty, education, employment, and housing with crime and recidivism. It argues that justice reinvestment is a crime prevention policy that can simultaneously reduce mass incarceration and empower millions of American citizens living in the United States' most brutal conditions.     

Women,crimes, and judicial dispositions: A comparative examination of the female offender

Utilizing records from the Seattle Police Department, we explored questions of a new “masculinized” female offender and a “chivalrous” criminal justice system. Crime‐specific arrest statistics provided a means to study both questions. Arrest statistics were recoded three separate ways: according to traditional views of the “masculinity” of an offense; legalistic crime categories; and seriousness ratings. These three categories were compared by sex across a four‐year period. Comparisons of final dispositions provided the basis of a final look at the “chivalry” issue. The findings suggest that females are not making great inroads into either traditionally masculine crimes or crime in general, and while there is little in the data to suggest prejudicial treatment based on sex, chivalry is supported by certain arrest and disposition rates.