Community-Based Restorative Justice: A Capacity-Building Tool for Confronting Crime

Source: (1997) Stevens Square Community Organization (Minneapolis, Minnesota).

Gerard argues that the restorative justice philosophy can be applied to a community model of justice that would have the potential to reform the criminal justice system in radical ways, while building community capacity in the process. A community-based and community-driven justice system for resolving minor crime at the local level would likely regulate behavior more effectively, provide more satisfactory outcomes, and strengthen the social fabric by making the community the locus of social control. Through the configuration and ongoing development of such a model, the community itself would improve its own capacity to define and address its crime-related issues.