Restorative Justice and Its Religious Roots Explained

Introduction

An important component of most cultures, religion often impacts the way that a society is structured. Rules for governance, customs, and both formal and informal structures can often be influenced by a society's primary religious beliefs, even if those beliefs are no longer the central focus of that society. In the United States, many stores and government branches are still closed on Sunday — an informal policy adopted due to Sunday's religious significance for much of the country. Today's United States, however, is home to people of many religions, suggesting that a variety of days could be considered religiously significant. Still, the informal rule from the past persists because of its legacy.

Although closing government offices on Sunday is one example of how religious ideas can impact societal structure, it is not the most significant example. Many societal movements and ideologies have their roots in religion and religious practice. Restorative justice is one such ideology. Despite its religious history, restorative justice is used widely today and is an important concept in the study of criminal justice and other social disciplines.

This paper reviews restorative justice in light of its religious history. By examining the religious history of restorative justice, one can determine that religion has impacted the concept in a positive way — and that those impacts have been successfully secularized. Through a review of restorative justice's definition and significance, an exploration of its history, and an assessment of how its religious components have shaped it today, one can conclude that religious influences on the ideology were generally positive, growing restorative justice into the concept most frequently identified by that term today.

Restorative Justice: Definition and Significance

An opposition to punitive justice, restorative justice aims to reform offenders for successful reentry into society. Restorative justice can be explained as "a system of legal resolution that involves the victim, offender and community, [and] emphasizes repairing the harm caused when a crime is committed" ("Beyond crime and punishment," 2007). Through this definition, it is easy to see how restorative justice is sociological in nature. Wanting to heal the entire society from crime, restorative justice allows communal healing to take place through open conversation and activities involving all who were affected by the crime. According to Changing Minds.org, restorative justice is about "putting things back as they should be," using tactics such as "a straightforward apology" from the criminal to the victim ("Four Types of Justice," 2009). In addition to apologizing, restorative — or corrective — justice often requires the offender to use actions to "demonstrate that one is truly sorry" ("Four Types of Justice," 2009).

Even though restorative justice may require some form of community service or payment to the victim in order for the offender to demonstrate contrition, it is quite different from other types of justice, including distributive, procedural, and retributive justice. These other forms of justice concern themselves with fairness of economics, fairness in procedure, and revenge, respectively ("Four Types of Justice," 2009).

Using restorative justice, offenders are still expected to be accountable for their crimes, but the focus is placed on reform and growth — both in the individual and in the community — with the ultimate goal of creating a better society. This type of justice is aimed at teaching, and has been increasingly used in juvenile settings ("Beyond crime and punishment," 2007). In these settings, restorative justice helps children and teens understand why their actions were wrong and how to move forward in correcting them. Victim-offender mediation and other forms of restorative justice have been growing increasingly popular, and even schools have begun incorporating restorative justice programs into their discipline structures ("Beyond crime and punishment," 2007).

This current trend has sparked controversy and debate among scholars and criminal justice practitioners. The Center for Restorative Justice (n.d.) sheds some light on this controversy by arguing that "restorative justice is contentious because it involves rethinking our current criminal justice system, and the social fabric that informs our responses to harm and conflict." Issues identified as particularly controversial include the economic and social dimensions of recidivism, economic success, community transformation, and possible power struggles. While determining whether restorative justice works will require more resources and studies than are currently available, at least one study has shown "that restorative justice reduced repeat offending and repeat imprisonment, lowered criminal justice costs and gave crime victims greater satisfaction than did conventional justice" ("Beyond crime and punishment," 2007).

In order to evaluate whether this type of justice is successful, one must first understand its goals. If the goal of restorative justice is empowerment, reduced crime rates, sociological cohesion, or other outcomes, different measurements of success will be needed. Thus, restorative justice is a concept that has received considerable attention, but it also requires more research, theory, and writing before its full implications can be understood.

The Spiritual Roots of Restorative Justice

One thing that does not remain a mystery regarding restorative justice is how it came to be. "Restorative justice has roots in the world's religious traditions" ("Beyond crime and punishment," 2007). Richards (2004), however, adds to this list of possible origins by noting that scholars have attributed the phenomenon to the Victims' Rights Movement, indigenous justice practices, and religious ideas (p. 1). Richards also identifies the limited historical treatment of restorative justice as problematic for two major reasons. First, the debate about where the history of restorative justice actually begins has not been settled. Second, Richards argues that existing histories have largely presented the discipline as "natural," or a "panacean paradigm of criminal justice" (p. 2). Because the authors of these works are attempting to persuade readers that restorative justice is a superior method of criminal justice (Richards, 2004, p. 2), it is reasonable to suspect that this portrayal of history may be skewed for rhetorical purposes.

Despite the contested nature of this history, the fact that restorative justice has roots in spirituality is abundantly clear. Roth (2005) makes a connection between Christianity and restorative justice when he writes, "The good news is that reconciling 'two or more gathered,' forgiving 77 times, and inviting 'both good and bad' to the wedding feast leads to a justice that restores relationships, shares the bounty, and redeems lives." Roth further suggests that Jesus demonstrates "a restorative justice that penetrates surface spirituality." While Christianity has been a focus of some restorative justice studies (Hadley, 2001, p. 2), the roots of restorative justice can be found across even more world religions.

In his book The Spiritual Roots of Restorative Justice, Michael L. Hadley not only explores how the teachings of most major religions have included restorative justice elements, but also emphasizes the importance of continuing to monitor the connection between religion and restorative justice today. He examines these spiritual roots across multiple traditions, including Buddhism, aboriginal religions, Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, and Sikhism. Hadley (2001) writes that "the resultant synergy has confirmed what participants suspected at the earliest stages… the conviction that multifaith engagement can make vital contributions to criminal justice reform" (p. 25).

Further, Volona (2000) explains that the word religion actually comes from Latin, meaning "to bind back together — to restore to unity what is separated" (p. 5). She suggests that this etymology is closely linked with the goals of major religions, which are based on bringing humans back to God and the mercy of God. She also argues that faiths outside of the Judeo-Christian realm are founded upon "the principle of Compassion, which has a similar function of restoring to wholeness in terms of both the individual and the community" (Volona, 2000, p. 7), supporting this claim with examples drawn from the holy books of several religions.

Thus, many of the world's great religions have incorporated restorative justice principles in their teachings about wrongdoing and its remedy. Aimed at resolving community conflict, these religions encourage those who are wronged to forgive, to reflect, and to love despite wrongdoing — suggesting that such practices bring healing to both offender and victim and help bind communities together around higher-order concerns such as the essence of humanity, spirituality, and hope.

Conclusion

Although religion has played a role in the construction of many societies, restorative justice has a uniquely religious character. While the history of restorative justice remains somewhat contested, its religious roots in criminal justice theory are clear. Drawing on characteristics shared by most major religions, restorative justice attempts to bring unity to the offender, victim, and community, drawing all together into a functioning society. Moreover, restorative justice operates at multiple levels — individual, community, and international — suggesting that it may eventually allow states to come together to prevent war, achieve reconciliation, and encourage lasting peace.

Just as spirituality played a major role in the formation of restorative justice, it remains important today at each of these levels. Religious professionals such as chaplains can use restorative justice methods to help offenders come to terms with their actions, their victims, and their communities. Because religious professionals have a predisposition toward this type of justice rooted in their own beliefs, they may be particularly effective in this role. Furthermore, encouraging prisoners to develop spiritually can increase community cohesion, as spiritual development also encourages personal development. At the community level, religious professionals are also well positioned to persuade community members to embrace restorative justice approaches in dealing with offenders. At the international level, the religious emphasis on reconciliation enables nations once torn apart by war to come together again.

Thus, religion still plays an incredibly important role in restorative justice. Although some may argue that this is a secular age in which religion should not be encouraged, the evidence suggests otherwise. Encouraging religious professionals to approach situations where restorative justice can be applied with tolerance and an open mind will advance the field, with positive implications for individuals, communities, and the international system alike.