Seeking Justice When You Are Wronged By Someone You Love
Restorative Justice in Your Relationship
Something called Restorative Justice is beginning to appear in the court system. It also has a place in personal relationships when there has been an injury and trust needs to be repaired.
This is how restorative justice works in the court system: A kid gets caught with a can of paint, spraying a swastika on a synagogue parking lot. The congregation is outraged. Intense fears and memories of the Holocaust get activated. The kid appears before a judge and admits he’s guilty.
The judge could sentence him to jail, but how would that help? In jail, the kid might likely fall in with a gang of skinheads who would further radicalize him, casting him as the victim, not the perpetrator of injustice. His schooling would be interrupted, his friendships disrupted, his time wasted; all at great cost to the taxpayers. The congregation might enjoy some small satisfaction that the power of the state is being used to punish the kid, but there would be no true healing, only retribution.
The judge might give the kid probation or a suspended sentence and say, don’t get in trouble again. Many, including the congregation and the kid, might think he got off easy.
