New Restorative Approach to Sex Crimes

RESTORE (Responsibility and Equity for Sexual Transgressions Offering a Restorative Experience) began in Pima County, Arizona in March, 2004. The programme is a joint effort by the Tucson Police Department (TPD), Pima County Sheriff’s Office (PCSD), Pima County Attorney’s Office (PCAO), Tucson City Attorney’s Office, Oasis Center for Sexual Assault and Relationship Violence, and the University of Arizona (UA).

RESTORE was designed to offer prosecutors an alternative avenue for select sex crime cases considered appropriate for community justice.  It augments the work of other organizations in the community that facilitate sex crime victim healing by providing a means to address currently unmet needs for confrontation, truth-speaking, and accountability for the assailant. The programme targets selected first offenses that involved no more force than necessary to accomplish the unwanted sex act, were not part of an ongoing intimate partner violence pattern, and were not repeat offenses.

RESTORE’s goals are to treat survivor/victims with respect, attend to their safety and rights, and validate sexual victimization that was previously minimized by, or lost in the cracks of, the justice system.  The program aims to involve victims, their supporters, and the broader community in an empowering process to shape how sex crime cases are resolved and accountability exacted and monitored.  The programme consists of four components common to standard conferencing models of restorative justice (RJ), with important modifications because of the sensitive nature of sex crimes.

Referral/Enrollment

When a complaint is filed, law enforcement officials investigate the matter following their standard procedures. At the conclusion of the investigation, they present the cases to prosecutors. Prosecutors then refer qualified cases to RESTORE. 

At this point a programme staff member contacts the victim to describe the program and to offer the services of an attorney at no cost to advise them of their justice options.  If the victim selects to participate in the RESTORE programme, it is presented as an option to the offender and his/her lawyer. If offenders agree to the programme, they undergo a psychosexual assessment by a forensic examiner to ensure that it is appropriate to place this offender in a community program and to provide individualized feedback on working with him/her. 

Once accepted into RESTORE, the sex offender is referred to as the “responsible person” (RP). This term reflects the offender's acceptance of the fact that the act took place.  It is not the equivalent of a guilty plea, nor does it mean that at this early stage the RP understands why that act is being viewed as a sexual offense. The term “survivor/victim” (SV) is used to refer to the person filing the complaint, and blends the language of the justice system with that of victim advocates.

Preparation Stage

Preparation with SVs includes assessing the safety needs of the SV, and explaining the rules of the programme that were established to maximize safety and minimize revictimization. It also includes a thorough review of the conference process, discussion about who of their supporters the SV would like to have present, assistance in preparation of an impact statement, and consideration of specific forms the SV would like to have redress take. Free psychological counseling is offered through dedicated time set aside by other community providers.

The preparation of RPs includes assiting them in developing a statement of responsibility that describe their acts and their thoughts about those acts. Case managers provide a briefing on what SVs are requesting in the way of redress so RPs will have time to consider how to fulfill them. Additionally, RPs  fully inform their supporters of the acts they have committed in advance of the face-to-face meeting to protect their family and friends from humiliation at the conference and to enlist them as social support agents.

The program has received several misdemeanor cases that involved “victims” such as police officers or security guards who observed crimes or captured them on security cameras.  In these and some other cases, SVs who do not want to participate directly will sign a consent for the case to proceed without them.  In these instances they are represented at the conference by volunteers who speak of the impact of these crimes on themselves as members of the community

Conference Stage

The conference is convened by a trained community member matched as often as possible to the ethnic, cultural, sexual orientation or linguistic communities of the participants. Facilitators and other RESTORE staff have been certified to conduct conferences by national trainers, including US DOJ-funded Balanced and Restorative Justice Technical Assistance Project and by REAL JUSTICE, Inc.  There is a standard agenda and prompts to guide facilitators through conference topics, but they are expected to probe for clarity or fuller exploration if this does not occur spontaneously. 

The agenda is similar to that of most RJ conferencing models, with notable differences designed for safety. Examples include holding the conferences at a police station and using a conference table to avoid what could be perceived as inappropriate proximity of SVs to someone who has sexually assaulted them. Neither shaming nor apology is encouraged, but the former is inherent to some degree in the public setting, and the latter is sometimes spontaneously offered. The redress agreement is somewhat atypical when compared to other conferences because it is comprised of both program requirements and victim-driven components. Our experience has been that RPs exit the conference as soon as it is over and SVs and their supporters remain for a significant period debriefing what occurred, bonding, and eating the refreshments provided. Another group likely to remain are observers, particularly when they are familiar with conventional justice process and want to share their typically strongly positive feelings about what has occurred.

Monitoring and Reintegration Stage

In addition to professional supervision weekly, a Community Accountability and Reintegration Board (CARB) consisting of volunteer community members meets with the RP regularly for one year. Tight monitoring is clearly needed for a program dealing with crimes about which both the SV and community have high levels of fear.  SVs and their supporters may attend CARB meetings if desired; it is part of the CARB responsibility to represent the community in validating the wrong that was done to SVs. Prosecutors, defense attorneys, and SV’s are informed quarterly about the RP's compliance with their Redress Plan, and notified immediately if they re-offend. 

The decision to terminate an RP rests solely with the CARB.  RPs who successfully complete their redress plan attend an exit CARB meeting (other conference participants may also attend) to express orally and in writing what they have learned about themselves and the sex crime they committed. Only after this summary of rehabilitation and reparations is presented to document remorse is the RP encouraged to make a public apology to the SV.

One of the reasons for RESTORE to exist is to motivate offenders to make changes without accruing the stigmatizing impacts of a sex offense conviction on their record.  The end of this meeting marks the re-integration of the RP into the community, where he/she will have no record of being charged with a sexual offense. However, if the RP re-offends, his/her RESTORE participation is available to law enforcement officials for criminal background checks of suspects, but not assessable to the general public.  The RP's completion also results in the SV signing a civil waiver agreeing not to file a lawsuit against the offender, although the SV retains the option to sue third parties.

For more information on the RESTORE programme see http://restoreprogram.publichealth.arizona.edu


Mary P. Koss
July 2006