RESTORATIVE JUSTICE is a community-based, victim-centered approach to dealing with crime, the effects of crime, and crime prevention. Restorative justice works from a belief that the path to justice lies in problem solving and reparation rather than punishment or isolation.

Restorative justice offers a paradigm shift away from our punitive, retributive justice system.  Our traditional criminal justice system asks:
1.      What law was broken?
2.      Who broke it?
3.      What punishment is deserved?

Restorative justice asks:
1.      What harm was done and to whom?
2.      What needs have arisen based on this harm?
3.      Whose obligation it is to meet these needs?

In light of these questions, the guiding principles of restorative justice are:
•    First and foremost, crime is an act against people and interpersonal relationships;
•    These harms create obligations;
•    The central obligation is to do right by the people who were harmed; and
•    By meeting these obligations, the person who has harmed begins to understand and value responsibility and relationships with other people and the community.