Fraser Region
Community Justice Initiatives
Association
Celebrating 20 years of excellence in Restorative Justice • 1985-2005
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Restorative Justice: Justice Which Heals
From the beginning,
program development at CJI has centred on peacemaking and conflict
resolution, and has been driven by theological and philosophical
understandings of conflict in society which have come to be identified
as “Restorative Justice.” The mentoring influence of Dr. Howard Zehr
on the thinking of this agency’s founders has been profound. Long
before the notion had become almost cliché, Howard was calling for a
“paradigm shift” in criminal justice, a changing of the lenses
through which justice is viewed. In his book on the subject, Changing
Lenses: A New Focus on Crime and Justice (1990), Howard illustrates
how justice viewed through different types of lenses presents vastly
contrasting images:
Retributive
Justice Restorative
Justice Those
who view crime from a Restorative Justice perspective see crime as
conflict which creates a breach, a “rent” in the fabric of the
community. Rather than the state and its laws at centre-stage, the focus
remains on the disputants and on accountability, responsibility,
negotiating fitting amends and, to the greatest possible degree, the
repair of the harm. Since crime involves and affects—even erodes—the
community, involving and empowering people to assist in the resolution
of criminal conflicts that arise in their communities can reverse that
trend, reducing the sense that the community is powerless to do anything
about the levels of crime within it. Victim-offender mediation can
dramatically change that dynamic.
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