NCJ Number
181930
Date Published
1999
Length
40 pages
Annotation
This paper examines the implications of restorative justice principles and assumptions for a relational approach to juvenile rehabilitation; it concludes that a restorative approach may be able to help the juvenile court function as a catalyst for developing relationships and community and thereby contribute to juvenile rehabilitation.
Abstract
Restorative justice is more than a jurisprudential model. A restorative perspective focuses on informal as well as formal justice processes and on community intervention as well as system responses to crime. In addition, a relational approach to juvenile rehabilitation links crime to a breakdown in social relationships and hence prescribes a reintegrative response to crime. This reintegrative response focuses on attempts to repair, rebuild, and enhance bonds or ties between young offenders and their communities. A relational model of offender reintegration founded in restorative justice principles has three components. The first component is an integration and resonance between rehabilitative efforts to address sanctioning and public safety needs and an integration of efforts to serve and involve victims, communities, and offenders in juvenile justice. The second component is a naturalistic focus on community maturational and reintegrative processes rather than formal treatment programs. The third component is an institutional focus on the broader social ecology of reintegration and a policy agenda to develop new roles for young people. The relational model is desirable for several reasons, including its potential for offender rehabilitation. Notes and 112 references