Guns, restorative justice and violence prevention

by Lisa Rea

After reading It's time to inject sanity into the gun debate by LA TIMES columnist Steve Lopez and pondering the violent events in Tucson, Arizona on January 8th I wondered about restorative justice and gun violence. Some might think there is little or no connection between gun violence and restorative justice but I think they 're wrong. The principles of restorative justice which focus on making things right with crime victims AFTER crimes are committed and embracing offender accountability also must address the need for violence prevention in the front end of the system.  To think that those of us who work for restorative justice around the U.S. and globally do not care about preventing violence is wrongheaded.  There is a place for a discussion on crime prevention especially when gun violence appears to be on the increase in the U.S.  Whether you question that statement or not it is clear that gun ownership is on the rise in the U.S. 

According to the online news site Guardian.co.uk (1.12.11), "In the days since the tragedy, gun sales have increased dramatically. According to figures obtained from the FBI by Bloomberg, some 263 handguns were sold in Arizona the day after the killings, a rise of 60% on a year ago. Handgun sales were up 65% to 395 in Ohio and nationally increased by about 5% to 7,906."

Jan 31, 2011 Case:Violence, Correspondent:Lisa Rea

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