Consensus Question #8 is divided into three parts related to Restorative Justice. The current League of Women Voters of Illinois position is stated below, followed by the updated consensus study questions on this topic.

Existing Position: NONE

Consensus Questions:

8a. Should the criminal justice system be open to the use of restorative justice approaches and values?

PRO: Our traditional system of justice is adversarial. Opposing parties present evidence and challenge the strength of each other’s case. We assume that such an adversarial process will result in a just outcome.

The traditional system asks three questions:

• Who did it?

• What laws were broken?

• What should be done to punish or treat the offender?

  Restorative justice holds offenders accountable and helps them to take responsibility and to make amends. The intent is to restore the victim and the community to their condition prior to the crime.

  Restorative justice programs asks these questions:

• Who has been harmed by the crime, and what is the nature of the harm?

• What needs to be done to repair the harm and who is responsible for this repair?

• How can the responsible party return to a law-abiding life?

  From the Illinois Constitution: “All penalties shall be determined both according to the seriousness of the offense and with the objective of restoring the offender to useful citizenship.”

  Research shows that non-violent offenders are more effectively rehabilitated in community settings, which are also less expensive than prison.

  Adult Redeploy Illinois and Problem Solving Courts are models that break away from the traditional justice system because sanctions are imposed in the community and offenders receive services that address the root causes of their offenses.

  Rehabilitation and a successful return to society are goals of these diversions. Upon successful completion of these programs, defendants may have the original sentence reduced or even expunged. The expungement of a felony conviction eliminates the many barriers which face people who are burdened with a felony conviction.

  CON: The criminal justice system exists for the victims of crime to receive restitution and retribution and to punish the offenders. Restorative justice is an alternative to criminal court only in a narrow range of cases (where the facts of the crime are uncontested, the participants accept their roles as "victim" and "offender," and the process dangers can be minimized).

  8b. To be successful, must restorative justice courts involve members of the community?

PRO: Restorative justice emphasizes the ways that crime harms relationships in the community. Participants and the judge all sit at a table. The people most impacted by the crime are brought together to address and repair the harm. Victims have the opportunity to directly address the defendant to express how they were hurt and what they need to heal from the crime.

Defendants take responsibility for their actions and then work out an agreement with both the person harmed and the community. Agreements can focus on restitution, community service, and letters of apology. Defendants' needs are also addressed such as mental health counseling, substance abuse treatment, education, job training, and parenting classes. The goals are the restoration of relationships and the repair of harm done to the community, the victim, and the offender.

CON: It can be exhausting work to keep community members involved in restorative justice. In the adversarial system, members of the community do not need to be involved in the process. It is between the offender, the victim, and the court.

Ongoing outreach to the community is essential in building the trust that restorative justice will be a less punitive and a more productive way of addressing crime. Time and effort is required to build effective relationships with neighborhood groups and residents. Defendants must be truly committed to the process of “repairing the harm.”

8c. Must restorative justice courts be adequately funded?

PRO: The restorative justice model promises to restore young people to their communities and also addresses the needs and concerns of victims in a manner far superior to the adversarial system. Costs to the community should be lower over time because of lower incarceration costs and decreased recidivism.

ARI (see Additional Resources) provides grants to local jurisdictions to expand their capacity to safely supervise non-violent offenders in the community by investing in evidence-based practices shown to reduce recidivism. In exchange for grant funding, sites agree to reduce by 25 percent the number of non-violent offenders they send to the Illinois Department of Corrections from their target populations.

CON: It seems unlikely that the two systems can be adequately funded. This is a new experiment in Illinois. It is too early to see whether the outcomes measure up to the hopes for restorative justice.

A DOJ grant funded the salary, travel, and evaluation of the court’s coordinator during the pilot program. For everything else, the court must rely on other sources such as foundations. The total estimated cost of the RJCC of more than $2 million must eventually be borne by the Cook County budget. Expansion will increase costs.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

Full study materials can be found on the IL state League site here.

https://www.lwvil.org/criminal-justice-position-update-study

PRO References
ARI (https://rfknrcjj.org/) is the Alternative Response Initiative of the Robert F. Kennedy National Resource Center for Juvenile Justice. The Center, led by Robert F. Kennedy Children’s Action Corps, provides consultation; technical assistance; and training to serve local, state, and national leaders, practitioners, and youth-serving agencies. In partnership with jurisdictions and communities across the nation, we guide and inform youth justice

system improvement and youth outcomes through our commitment to adolescent development science, best- practice methods and approaches, and evidence-based programs and treatment services.

VIDEOS

Restorative Justice: Why Do We Need It? 3-minute animation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8N3LihLvfa0&list=PLQ9B-p5Q-YOM0YQgtc9N-E...

How restorative justice could end mass incarceration. About 13 minutes | Shannon Sliva argues for a shift towards Restorative Justice | TEDxMileHigh
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPA-p6UUDl4

ARTICLES

Pritzker Unveils Plan to ‘Transform’ Juvenile Justice in Illinois By Closing Large Facilities. This plan is based on restorative justice principles. https://news.wttw.com/2020/07/31/pritzker-unveils-plan-transform-juvenil... facilities

Daily Chronicle, 9/16/20, about executive branch plans to overhaul IL juvenile justice system and the power of state’s attorneys. https://www.daily-chronicle.com/2020/09/16/eye-on-illinois-dont-overlook... shape-justice-system/argspah/

CON References
Decriminalizing Violence: A critique of Restorative Justice. From the New Mexico Law Review.https://scholarworks.law.ubalt.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2028&cont...

If you would like more information on this question, please contact Roberta Jacobson, LWV of Wheaton, at RobertaJacobson [at] att.net and Brenda Boland, LWV of Naperville, at gbols [at] comcast.net.