Balanced and Restorative Justice Philosophy

The foundation of restorative juvenile justice practice is a coherent set of values and principles, a guiding vision, and an action-oriented mission.

Principles of Restorative Justice

• Crime is injury.
• Crime hurts individual victims, communities, and juvenile offenders and creates an obligation to make things right.
•  All parties should be a part of the response to the crime, including the victim if he or she wishes, the community, and the juvenile offender.
• The victim’s perspective is central to deciding how to repair the harm caused by the crime.
•  Accountability for the juvenile offender means accepting responsibility and acting to repair the harm done.
• The community is responsible for the well-being of all its members, including both victim and offender.
•  All human beings have dignity and worth.
•  Restoration—repairing the harm and rebuilding relationships in the community—is the primary goal of restorative juvenile justice.
•  Results are measured by how much repair was done rather than by how much punishment was inflicted.
•  Crime control cannot be achieved without active involvement of the community.
•  The juvenile justice process is respectful of age, abilities, sexual orientation, family status, and diverse cultures and backgrounds—whether racial, ethnic, geographic, religious, economic, or other—and all are given equal protection and due process.

 The Restorative Justice Vision

• Support from the community, opportunity to define the harm experienced, and participation in decision making about steps for repair result in increased victim recovery from the trauma of crime.

• Community involvement in preventing and controlling juvenile crime, improving neighborhoods, and strengthening the bonds among community members results in community protection.

• Through understanding the human impact of their behavior, accepting responsibility, expressing remorse, taking action to repair the damage, and developing their own capacities, juvenile offenders become fully integrated, respected members of the community.

• Juvenile justice professionals, as community justice facilitators, organize and support processes in which individual crime victims, other community members, and juvenile offenders are involved in finding constructive resolutions to delinquency.

The Balanced Approach Mission

Figure 1 is a graphic representation of the balanced approach mission.

Transforming the Current Juvenile Justice System Into a More Restorative Model    

Juvenile justice professionals have the power to transform juvenile justice into a more balanced and restorative justice system. By developing new roles, setting new priorities, and redirecting resources, juvenile justice professionals can: 

·         Make needed services available for victims of crime.

·         Give victims opportunities for involvement and input.

·         Actively involve community members, including individual crime victims and offenders, in making decisions and carrying out plans for resolving issues and restoring the community.

·         Build connections among community members.

·         Give juvenile offenders the opportunity and encouragement to take responsibility for their behavior.

·         Actively involve juvenile offenders in repairing the harm they caused.

·         Increase juvenile offenders’ skills and abilities.