Witness Justice: help and healing for victims of violence
May 13, 2009
From their website: One of the more promising trends in crime victim services has been the advent of "restorative justice," an adjunct to traditional justice systems that can offer a more inclusive and personal approach to addressing trauma and violent victimization.
Restorative justice is an umbrella term encompassing a wide range of programs and approaches. In general, restorative justice proponents seek a holistic, integrated sense of justice and healing for victims, as well as personal accountability from offenders. For some, the concept of restorative justice extends to the broader communities affected, the idea being that healing and justice are interconnected for everyone.
Advocates of restorative justice do not dispute the need to sanction or punish offenders; rather, they maintain that punishment alone may not be sufficient for victims' healing and justice.
The rest of the page discusses how restorative justice is used, the opportunities and perils it presents, the differences and similarilities with parallel justice, and concludes with additional resources. The site also includes a page on victim-offender mediation.
