Choosing Restorative Justice in Schools
School communities in the UK mainly have a retributive (punitive) justice system as the default disciplinary procedure. Often using a tiered approach such as the traffic light disciplinary system. (see appendix 1). Retributive justice is the prevailing justice system installed in society to keep law and order, and it’s based on sanctions that are equal to the offence committed. The theory behind the method is that the punishment acts as a deterrent to stop an individual from committing an offence again. It seems logical that if retributive justice is societies method in dealing with misconduct, schools will follow suit as a microenvironment of society in which it’s placed.
Does retributive justice work?
As studies are commissioned to learn the efficacy of retributive justice, those studies reveal the negative outcomes and consequences that retributive justice of law and order has on societies. Therefore, schools, governments, and organisations are beginning to trial alternative ways to keep the peace. Restorative justice is an alternative, and studies show promising results, not only in societies but also in schools. The foundation of restorative justice has been based on the major advances in current research on attachment and trauma theory. The findings of this scientific research have fed into the measures and implementation of restorative justice. Here are just a few of the findings of restorative justice vs retributive justice: (have in the appendix references to studies)
Restorative justice vs Retributive justice in society
Retributive Justice
- Crime is an act against the state, a violation of a law, an abstract idea
- The criminal justice system controls crime
- Offender accountability is defined as taking punishment
- Crime is an individual act with individual responsibility
- Punishment is effective: Threats of punishment deter crime Punishment changes behaviour
- Victims are peripheral to the process
- The offender is defined by deficits
- Focus on establishing blame or guilt, on the past (did he/she do it?)
- Emphasis on an adversarial relationship
- Imposition of pain to punish and deter/prevent
- Community on the sideline, represented abstractly by state
- The response focused on the offender’s past behaviour
- Dependence upon proxy professionals
Restorative Justice
- Crime is an act against another person and the community
- Crime control lies primarily in the community
- Accountability is defined as assuming responsibility and taking action to repair the harm
- Crime has both individual and social dimensions of responsibility
- Punishment alone is not effective in changing behaviour and is disruptive to community harmony and good relationships
- Victims are central to the process of resolving a crime.
- The offender is defined by the capacity to make reparation
- Focus on the problem solving, on liabilities/obligations, on the future (what should be done?)
- Emphasis on dialogue and negotiation
- Restitution as a means of restoring both parties; the goal of reconciliation/restoration
- Community as a facilitator in the restorative process
- The response focused on harmful consequences of the offender’s behaviour; emphasis is on the future
- Direct involvement by participants
Compared to retributive justice, restorative justice can:
- Reduces victims’ symptoms of post-traumatic stress
- Can give victims of crime their power back
- Reduce reoffending rates
- Gives offenders an opportunity to make amends
Restorative justice Vs Retributive justice in schools
- Becoming a restorative school has many benefits, including increased attendance, reduced exclusions and improved achievement. (Restorative justice.org.uk)
- It can also alleviate problems such as bullying, classroom disruption, truancy and poor attendance, antisocial behaviour, and disputes between pupils, their families, and members of staff. (Restorative justice.org.uk)
- A report published by the Department for Education gave whole-school restorative approaches the highest rating of effectiveness at preventing bullying, with a survey of schools showing 97% rated restorative approaches as effective. (Restorative justice.org.uk)
- Promotes open respectful communication: It creates more of a telling culture, no longer focused on sanctions but resolution, children feel more able to ask for help knowing that no-one will get into trouble and therefore friends will remain friends and no fear of retribution.
- Victims feel listened to which helps bring closure, gives a sense of agency to the individual and increases resilience.
- Low level incidents are more likely to be resolved between peers, this can be further enhanced if the school trains peer mediators and so therefore reduce escalation into bigger issues. The children are no longer looking for who is right or wrong but looking for ways to resolve and reconnect, in other words, the children will be mirroring the approach the school staff use to restore peace.
- Offenders are less likely to re-offend, and agreements and support are put in place for positive behavioural change.
- Getting to the root cause of the offence by listening to the offender non-judgementally will promote a telling culture and reveal any safeguarding issues or educational needs that need to be addressed.
- offenders are helped to understand the consequences of their actions and work out how to make amends, actively working towards reconciliation.
- It helps young people express themselves and develop empathy (Restorative justice.org.uk)
What is restorative justice?
Justice.gov.za gives a concise definition of Restorative justice:
Restorative Justice is an approach to justice that aims to involve the parties to a dispute and others affected by the harm (victims, offenders, families concerned and community members) in collectively identifying harms, needs and obligations through accepting responsibilities, making restitution, and taking measures to prevent a recurrence of the incident and promoting reconciliation.
Restorative Justice sees crime as an act against the victim and shifts the focus to repairing the harm that has been committed against the victim and community. It believes that the offender also needs assistance and seeks to identify what needs to change to prevent future re-offending.
What is Restorative Justice in schools?
A restorative school is one that takes a restorative approach to resolve conflict and preventing harm.
Restorative approaches enable those who have been harmed to convey the impact of the harm to those responsible and those responsible for acknowledging this impact and taking steps to put it right.
Restorative approaches refer to a range of methods and strategies that can be used to prevent relationship-damaging incidents from happening and resolve them if they do happen.
Restorative Justice for Schools states that Restorative justice approaches in schools are based on four key features:
- RESPECT: for everyone by listening to other opinions and learning to value them
- RESPONSIBILITY: taking responsibility for your own actions
- REPAIR: developing the skills within our school community so that its individual members have the necessary skills to identify solutions that repair harm and ensure behaviours are not repeated
- RE-INTEGRATION: working through a structured, supportive process that aims to solve the problem and allows young people to remain in mainstream education.
Umoja corporation, a USA based organisation, has a useful infographic showing how restorative justice is integrated into school communications and relationships. The acronym SEL on the infographic stands for Social and Emotional Learning. The content looks similar to the UK’s PHSE (Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education) curriculum.
Why consider restorative justice in schools?
Restorative justice is gaining momentum as a form of societal regulation in meeting the difficulties with compassion using restorative, reparative, and transformative justice rather than sanctions. Some schools are now beginning to recognise restorative justice as an effective means of regulating pupils and creating the quality of environment conducive to optimum learning, not just academic, but also emotional and relational, evoking stable, respectful, kind, safe and happy places for learning as well as meeting the difficulties that children face as they navigate their own lives and relationships in school and out. Alongside their academic studies, children are also learning who they are, developing identity and how they interact in this interconnected world we live in. Using restorative Justice helps children cultivate and maintain healthy relationships with self and others, developing skills such as empathy, self-regulation, respect, understanding and inclusivity in diverse school communities.
This video from Restorative justice.org.uk is a great example from peer mediators of how restorative Justice has made a huge difference in their school community, how they help make a difference and how they approach conflict and difficulties.
“Punitive justice asks only what rule or law was broken, who did it, and how they should be punished. It responds to the original harm with more harm. Restorative justice asks who was harmed and what are the needs and obligations of all affected.
Whenever possible, restorative justice is the choice if the goals are to heal, to change, to improve, to communicate. Punitive justice doesn’t contribute to most of these goals.“
Psychology today
Restorative practices centre around a set of key questions that help children think about their behaviour and understand how they can correct it:
- What happened?
- What were you thinking and feeling at the time?
- What have you thought about it since?
- Who has been affected and in what way?
- How could things have been done differently?
- What do you think needs to happen to make things right?
