The LWHS Laramie Project - Restorative Justice

Restorative Justice

Restorative Justice:

A mode of justice that focuses on repairing the damage inflicted by criminal behavior; can change the way offenders view their impact on communities

Main Question:

How have communities healed in the past from shared trauma using restorative justice, on both individual levels and among an entire community?

Lines Referencing Restorative Justice in The Laramie Project:

Russell Henderson: "Mr. and Mrs. Shephard, there's not a moment that goes by that I don't see what happened that night. I know what I did was very wrong and I regret greatly what I did. You have my greatest sympathy for what I did. I hope that one day you will find it in your hearts to forgive me. Your honor, I know what I did is wrong. I am very sorry for what I did and I'm ready to pay my debt for what I did."

Matt Galloway: "I don't believe in the death penalty. It's too much for me. I don't believe that one person should be killed as redemption for his having killed another person. Two wrongs don't make a right."

Dennis Shephard: "I would like nothing better than to see you die, Mr. McKinney. However, this is the time to begin the healing process. To show mercy to someone who refused to show any mercy. Mr. McKinney, I am going to grant you life, as hard as it is for me to do so, because of Matthew... You robbed me of something very precious and I will never forgive you for that. Mr. McKinney, I give you life in the memory of one who no longer lives. May you have a long life and may you thank Matthew every day for it."

How does Restorative Justice Relate to Psychology?

Group Polarization - The tendency for groups to make decisions that are more extreme than the decisions that would be made by the members acting alone.
- Victims in the restorative justice process tend to be more forgiving of the offender in comparison to the criminal justice system.
Fundamental Attribution Error - FAE is the tendency for people to under-emphasize situational explanations for an individual's observed behavior while over-emphasizing dispositional and personality-based explanations for their behavior.
- In the case of a crime, it is easy to immediately think of the perpetrator as a horrible person, but considering the fundamental attribution error can help build empathy towards a perpetrator and their situation.
- Restorative justice allows for better understanding between victims and offenders, so victims can better empathize with the circumstances that led to the crime

Restorative Justice in the Criminal Justice System

Restorative Justice in Prison

Bridges to Life: program in Texas prisons where victims share experiences so offenders can understand the impact of their actions
“Bridges To Life has helped me to change the way that I view crime and how it affects the victims as well as our own families. Because of the testimony of the victims that visited my unit, I will never be the same. I’ve taken a lot of classes in the system during my 12 years of incarceration, and none has had the impact on me like BTL.”

Restorative Justice at Lick

N-word Incident in 2018:

- Who was hurt?

Black students at Lick, students that have had experiences with hate speech

- What did they need?

An apology, emotional support, security in knowing they will be in a safe space going forward, members of the community being educated on the impact

- Whose obligations and responsibilities were these?

The wrongdoers, the administration/whoever allowed it to happen, the victims in terms of communicating their needs

Main areas that need to be strengthened after any traumatic incident:

Respect - Repair - Responsibility - Reintegration - Relationship

--> These areas of discussion and more were broken down in a recent Paper Tiger issue in a story surrounding Restorative Justice that can be found here: http://lwhspapertiger.org/2020/02/12/restorative-justice-a-path-to-community-healing/

References

Bridges to life. (n.d.). Retrieved March 5, 2020, from https://www.bridgestolife.org/

Gavrielides, T. (Ed.). (n.d.). The psychology of restorative justice. Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=pkKgCwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=psychology+of+restorative+justice&ots=YDHTHV8jxg&sig=cGjDuZC5e58Oa223G7s2JIg8nDQ#v=onepage&q=psychology%20of%20restorative%20justice&f=false

Jackson-Green, B. (2015, August 16). Restorative-justice programs ensure that property-crime victims are compensated for their losses and reduce prison costs. Retrieved March 5, 2020, from Illinois Policy website: https://www.illinoispolicy.org/restorative-justice-means-restitution-for-victims-cost-savings-for-taxpayers/

Meet the judge who went viral for his creative punishments [Motion picture]. (n.d.).

Obi, F. C., Okoye, I. E., Ewoh, A. I. E., & Onwudi, I. D. (n.d.). Restorative justice: Psychological needs of offenders and implications for safety & security. In Restorative justice: Psychological needs of offenders and implications for safety & security. Retrieved from https://digitalscholarship.tsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1054&context=assr (Reprinted from African social science review, Vol. 9)

Wenzel, M., Okimoto, T. G., Feather, N. T., & Platow, M. J. (2007, October 24). Retributive and Restorative Justice. Retrieved March 5, 2020, from JSTOR website: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25144639?Search=yes&resultItemClick=true&searchText=restorative&searchText=justice&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Drestorative%2Bjustice%26amp%3Bacc%3Don%26amp%3Bwc%3Don%26amp%3Bfc%3Doff%26amp%3Bgroup%3Dnone&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_SYC-5055%2Ftest&refreqid=search%3A1d455a4683db25caf97b6037c8724eea&seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents

What is restorative justice. (n.d.). Retrieved March 5, 2020, from http://restorativejustice.org/#sthash.9oaQ2M26.WdA9OYaW.dpbs

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