In the 1970s, mounting frustration with court-based, retributive justice systems impelled U.S. practitioners to begin experimenting with alternative practices and ideas.[67] Drawing from Black, indigenous, and people of color restorative justice practices from around the world and throughout history,[68] practitioners built the U.S. restorative justice movement from a core set of grounding principles.
One of the grounding principles of restorative justice is that punishment of the person who caused harm is not sufficient, or even necessary, to restore justice.[69] Rather than punishment, restorative justice prioritizes and emphasizes healing: healing the person who was harmed by recompensing the hurt; healing the person who caused harm by rebuilding her moral and social selves;[70] healing the communities torn apart by mending social relationships.[71] Thus, while restorative justice solutions may ask obligations of the person who caused harm, these obligations are not motivated by a desire for a “just deserts” infliction of suffering, but rather the reparation of relationships. Accordingly, restorative “punishments” may oblige the responsible party to do something for the harmed party (or to those who have suffered similar harms), provide some service to the community, or take part in an educational program.[72]
Another restorative justice principle is that acts of harm are conflicts that rightfully belong to those who were harmed, those who caused harm, and their communities; as such, these parties ought to participate in the resolution.[73] This principle flows from the fundamental restorative justice premise that “crime” is a violation of people and relationships[74] rather than merely a violation of law.[75] By meting out punitive “resolutions” to conflicts without the input of the affected parties, restorative justice advocates argue, criminal justice institutions steal these conflicts—and their resolutions—from the affected parties, robbing them of their opportunity, right, and duty to learn and grow from their conflicts.[76] To this end, central to restorative justice is its definition as “a process whereby all the parties with a stake in a particular offence come together to resolve collectively how to deal with the aftermath of the offence and its implications for the future.”[77]
In practice, then, restorative justice is rooted in deliberative interaction, where parties are given a voice to vent their feelings and present their sides of the story.[78] Ideally, this process culminates in a shared understanding about the harm that has occurred, the values it violated, and what can be done to restore a sense of justice.[79] In the course of this deliberative process, the responsible party is encouraged to take accountability for her actions, express a sincere apology to the harmed party, and commit to actions that will restore dignity to the harmed party, the responsible party, and the community. The person who was harmed is encouraged to express willingness to forgive the person who caused harm and show them respect as a human being generally capable of redemption and moral transformation.[80] Justice is restored when the relevant principles and values that have been violated by the harm are re-established and re-validated through social consensus.[81]