The Promise of Restorative Justice |
zarre our imagination , it is not possible to conceive of any activity without balance being , ultimately , the critical factor . All of our good deeds we believe will reap good results , all of our bad deeds bad ones , all of our rash deeds rash results , and on and on . The Virginian , in the classic novel of the American West that carries the same name , underlines this truth when he speaks to the ranch hand named Shorty , a man the Virginian recognizes as having goodness within him as he has “ a kindness for animals in his heart ” but who has taken to associating with a horse thief . The Virginian talks with Shorty about what constitutes just compensation for one ’ s labors :
“ After a while ,” he continued , “ I noticed a right strange fact . The money I made easy that I WASN ’ T worth , it went like it came . I strained myself none gettin ’ or spendin ’ it . But the money I made hard that I WAS worth , why I began to feel right careful about that . And now I have got savings stowed away .” 7
While we all can choose to be steeped in the delusive sensations of passing pleasures that , in the poet Keats ’ terms , leave “ a heart high sorrowful and cloyed ,” and lose track of our up and down , our right and wrong — our balance — everyone is able to perceive what is “ just ,” be it as compensation , reward or thanks , given the circumstances . 8 A famous TED talk and video reveals that chimpanzees are , in fact , acutely aware of what is just compensation . I do believe we — all of us — are greater than chimpanzees in this regard . 9
The principle of balance that undergirds restorative justice , as well as all of “ justice ” is this : justice as balance and justice as the acts of bringing oneself , first and foremost , into balance and then , if it is one ’ s duty , to help bring others into balance . The word “ restorative ” itself means “ serving to restore .” Restorative justice serves to restore a lost balance in the lives of those affected by conflict or harm . Given how justice mirrors that which is universal for all of us , the bedrock principle of restorative justice is that people , given the opportunity to do so voluntarily and in what they perceive as a safe environment will willingly try to come to terms with others . They will be willing to work the conflict out with good will and good intentions , will seek to be at peace with their neighbors . An attendee at this summer ’ s restorative justice conference organized and supported by Vermont Law School , “ Global Unity and Healing : Building Communities with a Restorative Approach ,” recently articulated this belief in his blog about the conference : “ Ultimately , restorative justice systems are based on the belief that all humans are instinctively
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creative , relational , communicative , self-reflective , and responsible for their actions .” 10
Justice of the Sages
These concepts are merely dusting off what we all instinctively know , perhaps . Plato depicted Socrates disputing with Meno about the latter ’ s division of men into categories of good and bad , and Socrates demonstrated how untenable such a division is , even according to Meno ’ s reasoning — how , in fact , all men desire what is good and pursue what is good as they see and understand it to be so . 11 Hence , it has been clear since antiquity that rationality beckons us to acknowledge that all men , even those that our state has classified as “ criminals ,” seek what they perceive or think of as good — even though others , even society at large , may hold their “ good ” to be “ bad ” or “ evil ” or “ wrong .” Therefore , we are all in reality seeking a balance in all our engagements that will bring us greater happiness or peace of mind , whether it be with physical goods or with more refined goods , whether with a new car or with learning how to play a musical instrument , whether it be with fruit or folly … ad infinitum .
Some great thinkers and sages of the past , along with Plato , confirm the proposition that justice is balance and that man exists in its image and lives within his conception of it . In doing so , we will encounter notions of the “ state ” and its relation to justice , which will bring us back to the relation of restorative justice and criminal justice in our own state :
While there are no stirrings of pleasure , anger , sorrow , or joy , the mind may be said to be in the state of Equilibrium . When those feelings have been stirred , and they act in their due degree , there ensues what may be called the state of Harmony . This Equilibrium is the great root from which grow all the human acting in the world , and this Harmony is the universal path which they all should pursue . 12 Confucius .
[ Justice ] is complete virtue in its fullest sense , because it is the actual exercise of complete virtue . It is complete because he who possesses it can exercise his virtue not only in himself but towards his neighbour also ; for many men can exercise virtue in their own affairs , but not in their relations to their neighbour . 13 Aristotle .
This , then , is what the just is-the proportional ; the unjust is what violates the proportion . 14 Aristotle .
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[ J ] ustice is that virtue which gives every one his due . 15 Augustine .
Justice , then , is our birthright . As we exist in its image , in the symmetry of our physical forms , it is also our duty and calling :
Be just and fair to all . 16 Isaiah .
He has told you , O man , what is good ; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice , and to love kindness , and to walk humbly with your God ? 17 Micah .
The felicity of a man does not consist either in body or in riches , but in upright conduct and justice . 18 Democrates .
[ T ] he best man is not he who exercises his virtue towards himself but he who exercises it towards another ; for this is a difficult task . Justice in this sense , then , is not part of virtue but virtue entire , nor is the contrary injustice a part of vice but vice entire . 19 Aristotle .
Is it not disgraceful , and a great sign of want of good-breeding , that a man should have to go abroad for his law and physic because he has none of his own at home , and must therefore surrender himself into the hands of other men whom he makes lords and judges over him ? 20 Plato .
Since a man ’ s integrity and dignity cannot be severed from his just acts and justice deliberations , whenever possible the state , the government in which a man abides , should be perpetually striving not to abrogate to itself what a man is fit to handle on his own . To do so is to encroach upon his liberty , his freedom , and his right to act virtuously and nobly to resolve his conflicts for himself in a peaceable manner . To do so is to abrogate to itself the individual ’ s highest calling . To do so is to abrogate to itself the individual ’ s own dignity . As our states and governments are enterprises of just men and women who , by virtue of the attractiveness of their union , govern other men and women within their political domain , within the reach of its state powers , the state itself depends upon the existence of just men and women within it . Hence , it should allow whenever possible , its citizens to act justly .
Three iterations of this truth are made by Augustine :
Justice being taken away , then , what are kingdoms but great [ gangs of robbers ]? 21
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