Community Justice

These are articles about initiatives to build ties between communities and the criminal justice system in order to better prevent crime, repair harm and build communities.

A visionary judge makes restorative justice come alive in Alabama

from Ken Kimsey's entry on Fairness Works: In a six-part video series, Judge McCooey talks passionately about her believe that justice requires much more than the court system provides, especially in the area of giving crime victims the opportunity to meet the offenders, face-to-face, in a safe place, and to do so on a voluntary basis. (If you walk out of here and find someone has stolen your car radio, chances are you don’t have much interest in meeting the thief, she says in one segment. But the more deeply you have been hurt, the more likely you want to meet the offender and ask questions like “why?”.) As appealing as her speaking style and warmth is her story about the unorthodox path that led her to the bench. Serving as a judge was never in her long-range plans, but when she won her first election against a well-established Montgomery lawyer, surprising herself in the process, she knew there were some new thing she wanted to try. Finding ways of implementing a restorative justice program was among them, and she set about methodically but quietly to make this happen.

Victoria’s Neighbourhood Justice Centre

from the paper prepared by Courts and Tribunals Unit, Department of Justice, Victoria for the Indigenous Justice Clearinghouse: Community Justice Centres are neighbourhood-focused centres that seek to enhance community participation in the justice system, address local problems, and enhance the quality of local community life....Centres often vary in their model and focus but generally share a motivation to address crime and safety concerns locally, by developing effective relationships and links with the local community. Community justice centres challenge traditional methods of the criminal justice system. Rather than focusing on responding to crime after it has occurred, they seek to develop new relationships, both within the justice system and with stakeholders from the wider community, and to trial new and innovative approaches to community safety... A feature common to the various kinds of centres around the world is that they seek to respond in innovative ways to issues that may be otherwise considered negligible in the traditional criminal justice system.

Cardiff given more say in justice

From News Wales (29 April 09): A range of new measures that gives communities more say in the way justice is delivered in their neighbourhoods as well as making local criminal justice agencies more accountable to the people they represent has today been announced by ministers. Cardiff is one of 30 areas across England and Wales pioneering a new package of measures to test a range of initiatives that will deliver justice for all and put people back at the heart of the justice system.

British Columbia Association for Community Living. Restorative Justice and People with Developmental Disabilities. A Booklet for Restorative Justice Facilitators.

Restorative justice is a philosophy that looks upon crime as a violation of people and relationships rather than the breaking of laws. It recognizes that harms create obligations on the part of the person who harmed to put things right and that people who are most affected by the crime are the key stakeholders in making sure that harms are repaired and that balance and harmony is restored in the community. Community Living, on the other hand, believes that people with developmental disabilities have the right to live in community and have the appropriate supports to enable then to participate and be fully included in schools, workplaces, recreation, and community life. It also realizes that community members play a critical role in an individual’s life in order for true inclusion to be achieved. When one or more of the parties involved in a restorative process is a person with a developmental disability, it is very important that that person is well supported to help him or her express his or her thoughts and feelings as well as understand what is being said. (excerpt)

Bazemore, Gordon. Building Community and Nuturing Justice: A Review of the Community Justice Ideal.

Expressing a skepticism about the use of the terms 'community' and 'justice' in that they are often used in imprecise and uncritical ways, Bazemore notes in his review of The Community Justice Ideal (1999) that authors Todd Clear and David Karp avoid such problems. Indeed, they merge the best of restorative and community justice thinking and practice into a coherent vision. With all of this in mind, Bazemore reviews the book The Community Justice Ideal and the community justice movement itself. Topics covered in his review include theoretical and empirical grounding for community justice, community justice and individual freedoms, principles for democratic and egalitarian community justice, and realizing and evaluating community justice.

Bucqueroux, Bonnie. Community criminal justice: What community policing teaches us.

The author of this article observes that proponents of community policing believe that this new paradigm has the potential to serve as the model for dramatic reform of the entire criminal justice system. At the same time, the controversial and complicated history of community policing reveals the daunting problems that would challenge the implementation of a community criminal justice system. Amidst this context, the author defines community policing; compares changes in the model of medicine to changes in the model of criminal justice with respect to prevention and intervention; identifies principles of community justice; and paints a sketch of a community criminal justice system.

Maruna, Shadd. Afterword: In the shadows of community justice

Amidst pronouncements that probation has failed and community justice contains the hope for community corrections, Shadd Maruna identifies significant issues concerning community justice, particularly with respect to moving from the ideal of theory to the reality of actual implementation. How are community justice ideas and principles put into practice? What are the outcomes of community justice initiatives over time? Furthermore, if community justice represents a paradigm shift, do questions of evaluation and 'What works?' need to be understood in new ways?

Barajas, Eduardo, Jr. Moving toward community justice

In this article, Barajas maintains that a revolution is occurring in criminal justice – the emergence of a new paradigm – based not on the offender as the focus of criminal justice but on the community as the focus. Hence, this new paradigm can be called community justice. Barajas describes the shortcomings of the current criminal justice system and contrasts these with the characteristics of community justice. He then draws out the implications of the community justice model for policy and action.

Holcomb, Deevy and Maloney, Dennis M. In pursuit of community justice: Deschutes County, Oregon

Maloney and Holcomb characterize community justice as emphasizing community responsibility for public safety, crime victims as the primary customers of the justice system, restorative processes to repair harm to victims and communities, and government accountability to all citizens. Though community justice is a relatively new development, its implementation has many variations. The authors picture how Deschutes County, Oregon, has applied particular community justice principles and perspectives to devise programs to build community, reduce risk, and repair harm. Their portrait begins with an explanation of community justice and its distinctiveness. This leads to a short history of community justice in Deschutes County, and summaries of specific county programs that embody community justice.

Schiff, Mara F. and Bazemore, Gordon. Understanding restorative community justice: What and why now?

In this essay, Bazemore and Schiff explain key elements of restorative community justice. They also seek to explain its emergence at this time. Understanding restorative community justice begins with discerning its roots in the restorative justice and community justice movements. Noting certain apparent differences in emphasis, the authors describe and compare the beginnings of those two movements. Then they trace ways in which the restorative justice and community justice movements have begun to converge. Differences in emphasis centered in the following: more attention to individual cases (restorative justice) versus community circumstances (community justice); more a reaction to crime (restorative justice) versus a prevention of crime (community justice); more rooted in informal structures (restorative justice) versus more rooted in the formal criminal justice system (community justice). Nevertheless, Bazemore and Schiff argue that common ground may be found among advocates of these movements in concerns that require rethinking performance outcomes, priorities for practices, justice processes, and appropriate roles for both justice professionals and community members. They also argue that the term 'restorative community justice' is more suitable than either restorative justice or community justice.

Roy, Nikhil.. "A restorative justice approach to prison reform."

Roy, a member of the staff of Penal Reform International (PRI), asserts that the prison as an institution is in crisis in two fundamental ways: (1) the management of prisons and treatment of offenders; and (2) the quality of justice dispensed through the process of imprisonment. PRI advocates the application of restorative justice principles to ensure penal and prison reform. In view of all of this, Roy outlines a PRI project "New Models of Accessible Justice" that strengthens community-based justice systems and alternative methods of dispute resolution.

Altschuler, David M. Community justice initiatives: Issues and challenges in the U.S. context

Altschuler notes connections and overlap between ideas such as 'community justice,' 'restorative justice,' 'community restorative justice,� and 'balanced and restorative justice' in principles, aims, and practices. The emergence of the community justice movement itself in the 1900s aimed to bring less formal justice processes into local communities and to increase citizen involvement in crime control. Altschuler analyzes issues relating to the conceptual consistency of community justice, and to the specificity and concreteness of measures required to achieve the aims or desired outcomes. He raises questions about how balanced community justice is when it is incorporated into the legal codes of the juvenile justice system and put into practice. He also points to critiques that community justice may actually do more harm and not reduce recidivism. Additionally, cultural complexities among the parties involved may make the practice of community justice exceedingly difficult.

White, Rob. "Restorative community justice: Community building approaches in juvenile justice"

In this paper White explores ways to integrate community building into juvenile justice work. He begins by placing juvenile offending in a community context: social and economic conditions in a community significantly affect the inclusion or exclusion of young people with respect to society. White then discusses restorative justice; restorative justice may appear attractive in dealing with juvenile offending through an emphasis on responding to crime by repairing harm to people and relationships. However, White argues, restorative justice needs to be refocused more directly on the tasks of community building -- the broader idea of 'restorative social justice' rather than individualistic responses to specific harms. In terms of juvenile justice specifically, this leads to a restorative community justice model of intervention.

Barajas, Eduardo, Jr. Speak Out! - Community Justice: Bad Ways of Promoting a Good Idea

"Community justice" is a philosophy encompassing different emerging concepts of criminal justice that share common ideals and principles. These include restorative justice, victim services and community policing principles. Community justice is not a new way of practicing old business. It's a new way of viewing the business of justice; placing the community and victims at the center of justice activities and efforts. This "new paradigm" of justice practice has resonated with citizens and victims who have previously been ignored in the justice process.

Wengert, Michaela. Youth Justice Convenors – delivering a community based process within the framework of a legislated RJ scheme

The most significant and unique feature of NSW [New South Wales] youth justice conferencing is the partnership model between government and individuals in the community to deliver a justice process. In the NSW model, the government retains responsibility for the administration, and quality assurance, of each restorative justice process while individual members of the community facilitate the face-to-face delivery of the process. The convenors are not volunteers but are engaged on a fee-for-service basis as independent contractors. Apart from a letter introducing the convenor, in most cases the conference participants have no contact with public servants during the preparation and facilitation of the conference. Philosophically, the symbolism of an individual member of the community stepping up and facilitating a legislated justice process resolving the conflict arising from an offence committed between two members of that community is an intrinsic element of the NSW youth justice conference model. (excerpt)

Miller, Noah Patrick. Community tolerance of community-based reparative boards in Vermont: A closer look at community members' tolerance of offense types.

Many people support harsh punishments for convicted offenders. Similarly there are large amounts of political resistance to any criminal justice policies that appear to be soft on crime. On the surface this is a self perpetuating circle, but when community views are probed it becomes clear they are much more complex. This article looks at respondents views on community-based reparative boards in Vermont. In particular, this study assesses their views on which offenders should go to such boards and the effects individual characteristics and victimization can have these opinions. Views were measured through a combination of frequency charts and ordinary lease squares regressions. They show that people have widely varied views on which offenders should be referred to reparative boards. Consistent with previous research, victimization status does not appear to effect respondent’s support for reparative boards. (Author's abstract).

Karp, David R and Bazemore, Gordon. Community Justice Sanctioning Models: Assessing Program Integrity

"Community justice is taking hold throughout North America and the world. This movement is broadly inclusive of community-based crime prevention programs and community partnerships with various criminal justice agencies including policing, adjudication, and corrections. This chapter examines community justice approaches to sanctioning offenders. Viewed as a whole, the movement toward community justice sanctioning encompasses a wide array of processes, goals, and practical and philosophical rationales. The enthusiasm associated with community involvement in sanctioning as a new response to crime appears to be a result of both crisis and opportunity in the justice system." (excerpt)

Wachtel, Benjamin and McCold, Paul. Community Is Not a Place: A New Look at Community Justice Initiatives

"If community justice is going to have any success, then, it is necessary to take a deeper look at the meaning of community. This paper will discuss the importance of defining exactly what is meant by the term 'community' in community justice initiative, especially community policing and restorative justice. We propose a nongeographic perspective on community, which can be used to focus and define what community justice initiatives should look like and what they should be trying to achieve. This perspective is based on recent developments in restorative justice and community policing, especially the Wagga/Real Justice model of family group conferences which, when used by police, exemplifies and integration of restorative justice and community policing. The implications of this perspective for community justice initiatives in general will be explored." (excerpt)

Hanneman, Evelyn U. An Interview with Dennis Maloney, Director of the Department of Community Justice in Deschutes County, OR

In this article, Evelyn Hanneman reports on her interview with Dennis Maloney, Director of the Deschutes County, Oregon, Department of Community Justice. In the mid 1990s Deschutes County began a transition from a retributive justice system to a restorative justice system. This included changing the name of the Deschutes County Juvenile Department to the Department of Community Justice. As Maloney notes, 'community justice' is more inclusive than 'community corrections.' Community corrections involves the community but remains offender focused. Community justice also involves the community but goes further to elevate the position of the victim and focus on prevention. In the interview, Hanneman highlights Maloney's background in restorative justice, a variety of positive outcomes from restorative justice in Deschutes County, and challenges to this approach to crime.

Strang, Heather. The Threat to Restorative Justice Posed by the Merger with Community Justice: A Paradigm Muddle

The debate about restorative justice and community justice that Paul McCold encourages in his article (McCold, 2004, this issue) is an important one in the American context. It is important because it would be unfortunate if the development of restorative justice in the US were circumscribed by the limits of community justice. While community justice has proven a popular idea, and while balanced and restorative justice (BARJ) has managed to incorporate a number of restorative justice concepts into community justice, little attention has been given to producing evidence that community justice or BARJ are effective strategies for crime reduction or enhanced community efficacy. While restorative justice might be criticized on similar grounds, progress continues to be made around the world to test its effectiveness. We need to ensure not only that policymakers understand the differences between restorative justice and these other programs but also that much more effort is put into finding the evidence in both community justice and restorative justice about what works, when, and for whom. Author's abstract.