Community Justice/Restorative Justice: Prospects for a New Social Ecology for Community Corrections

Source: (1996) International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice. 20 (1 & 2):311-335.

This paper outlines a restorative justice model as an alternative to case-driven approaches to corrections. Community corrections policies and programs have lacked a framework which articulates strategies for engaging community groups and defines roles for citizens in the corrections process. This paper critiques both traditional approaches to community corrections based on an individual treatment model and newer approaches which emphasize punitive sanctions and surveillance. The restorative model targets victims, communities, and offenders for intervention and attempts to engage each of these correctional clients in an effort to repair harm, strengthen communities, and reintegrate offenders following appropriate sanctioning. The article describes the restorative model and discusses obstacles to implementation and threats of cooptation and dilution of a restorative agenda. The article concludes that restorative goals are viewed as secondary to those of offender control, punishment, and treatment. Meaningful efforts to move community corrections toward restorative justice must be based on a fundamental value change, as well as on implementation of new policies and practices. Abstract courtesy of National Criminal Justice Reference Service, www.ncjrs.org.