Restorative Justice
Restorative Justice is based on the philosophy that we are all interconnected, that we live in relationship with one another, and that our actions impact each other. In this way, restorative justice is able to provide an alternative way of addressing wrongdoing. Wrongdoing is seen as a damaged relationship, a wound in the community, and a tear in the web of relationships.
Restorative justice is not simply a way of reforming the criminal justice system, it is a way of transforming the entire legal system, our family lives, our conduct in the workplace, our practice of politics. It is a vision of holistic change in the way we do justice in the world. (Source: Braithwaite, 2002 as quoted by Umbreit and Armour, 2010, p. 9)
Restorative justice in the United States can be traced back to indigenous origins. Although examples of what many have termed “restorative justice” among First Nations communities in Canada have been well documented, less has been written about equivalents in the US. Part of the difficulty in tracing restorative justice back to specific practices within indigenous communities is that they do not typically hold “restorative justice” as a program or a model, but rather as part of their lives and embedded in their culture.
Resources
Indigenous Approaches to Justice (Living Justice Press)
NATV: 522: Indigenous Community Approaches to Restorative Justice (UNM Libraries)