Tonight Bill O'Reilly mentioned "restorative justice" in a piece about the latest bad ruling by a liberal Vermont judge. He says it also appears in his book, Culture Warrior (on Amazon), and that Vermont and Minnesota are the only two states currently applying restorative justice.
So what is it?
RestorativeJustice.org has this: "Restorative justice is a theory of justice that emphasizes repairing the harm caused or revealed by criminal behaviour. It is best accomplished through cooperative processes that include all stakeholders."
The same site says "restorative programmes are characterized by four key values:
Encounter: Create opportunities for victims, offenders and community members who want to do so to meet to discuss the crime and its aftermath
Amends: Expect offenders to take steps to repair the harm they have caused
Reintegration: Seek to restore victims and offenders to whole, contributing members of society
Inclusion: Provide opportunities for parties with a stake in a specific crime to participate in its resolution"
Encounter, amends, reintegration, and inclusion are all liberal buzz words. Is restorative justice responsible for letting child rapists off the hook? Bill O'Reilly alluding to this doesn't make it so, but it is worth looking into.
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