Restorative Justice - Community Health

Community Health Restored: In the midst of tragedy and unspeakable sorrow

restorative justice is of utmost importance

In times of manmade catastrophre restorative justice is of utmost importance

In post war environments restorative justice is of utmost importance

C4C's Purpose is to educate State & Community on Restorative Justice

A proactive approach to help State & Community have increased health and security

Click here for associated link to C4C Net Werks, Inc.

Author(s): Brenya Twumasi, MA., JD. and ret Col Richard Lantry, PhD

Restorative Justice is a concept, system, that views crime as being against the community itself. Crime is normally viewed as being against the State, District, or Government. In the case of Restorative Justice, the offender has committed the crime directly against all community members. This is a concept that requires acceptance by the community stakeholders. C4C is dedicated to putting forth the effort it takes to support stakeholders in learning about what Restorative Justice, as a concept, means.

Restorative Justice has been highly successful in Nation States such as: Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.

Restorative Justice is put in place once the society has matured. It is time consuming and can be costly, however it is well worth it. Restorative Justice is a concept that takes some education and time to fully process and understand. It takes me as a trainer of restorative Justice a week of workshops for my engaged colleagues, commmunity leaders to fully understand the many concepts involved in the view and implementation of Restorative Justice. Restorative Justice is the way of today and th efuture. Restorative Justice works for every community. It is an answer to many of societal ills.

Restorative Justice is a proactive approach to a reactive environment.

The steps of Restorative Justice include:

*Community engagement

* Diverse Community education

* An understanding that the legal system and legal process stays in place.

* A deep appreciation of the exsiting Legal process and Criminal Justice process

* A deep appreciation of Law Enforcement as the critical Gatekeeper and first point of contact

* An understanding that the offender is adjudicated through the legal process - Note the exsiting system stays in place.

*Community stakeholders must come together (includes trusted faith leaders, social workers,

educators, law enforcement, lawyers, judges, parents, community leaders).

* Community education take place with invloved stakeholders.

*Law enforcement officers have a primary role in this process. Law Enforcement require support in the form of resources.

* Increased presence of Law enforcement within the community through positive policing.

*Positive policing, which is a integral part of this process, is encouraged.

* Paid Counseling of victim takes place over a period of at least a year

* Counseling of all affected community stakeholders takes place (over a said period of time); to return community to status quo. This is a multifaceted and is approached proactively.

* After legal process has been effected and only when victim ready (could take years, or never) a face-to-

face meeting of offender and victim could be arranged for sincere apology.

*Once sanction is completed (for example, time served through prison sentencing), released offender is successfully reintegrated into community.

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