Breaking free of the prison paradigm: integrating restorative justice techniques into Chicago's juvenile justice system.

• Author: Tsui, Judy C.

TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION I. WHAT IS RESTORATIVE JUSTICE? II. RESTORATIVE JUSTICE AS AN EFFECTIVE ALTERNATIVE TO INCARCERATION A. Restored Offenders Are Less Likely to Recidivate B. Restorative Programming May Be More Cost-Efficient C. Juveniles Are More Likely to Be Restored D. Includes Otherwise Absent Victim Input III. THE HISTORY AND CURRENT STRUCTURE OF THE JUVENILE JUSTICE SYSTEM IN CHICAGO IV. POSSIBLE BARRIERS IN FURTHER IMPLEMENTING RESTORATIVE JUSTICE TECHNIQUES A. Lack of Community Cohesion B. Perception of Restorative Justice as "Soft" C. Pressure on Policymakers to be Tough on Crime D. Chicago's Lack of Knowledge and Exposure to Restorative Justice E. Shortage of Resources V. POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS CONCLUSION INTRODUCTION

In June of 1991, eighteen-year-old college freshman Carin Streufert was visiting her hometown of Grand Rapids, Minnesota, for her summer vacation. (1) After a trip to a local pancake house with friends, Streufert departed on foot at approximately 2:45 a.m. to walk home alone. (2) Sometime in the course of her travels, Streufert was abducted, raped, and murdered, (3) leaving behind her grief-stricken parents, Don and Mary Streufert. (4)

Although Carin Streufert's killers were eventually convicted and sentenced to life in prison for their brutal crime, her parents felt compelled to search beyond the traditional models of punishment to facilitate their own healing. (5) Rather than settling for retribution, the Streuferts focused on forgiveness and turned toward restorative justice practices and principles as a means toward that end. (6) The Streuferts founded an organization to address and reduce violence, began holding forgiveness workshops with other victims of crime, and even visited their daughter's murderers in prison. (7) Through this process, the family found a way to prevent anger from controlling their future, despite knowing that forgiveness could never change their past. (8)

The Streuferts say they have forgiven their daughter's killers, but they still believe that the two men responsible for their daughter's death should remain in prison. (9) In similar cases involving extremely violent crimes, society may lean toward incarceration as a means to incapacitate the offenders and prevent future offenses. (10) Despite this apparent need to imprison the most violent or chronic offenders, detention centers and correctional facilities have questionable appropriateness and effectiveness within the juvenile justice system. (11)

While restorative justice operated in the Streuferts' case primarily as a healing mechanism for the victim's family, there are other cases in which restorative justice programs have managed to serve an additional role. (12) One of these roles is as an alternative to traditional justice structures like incarceration, particularly for juvenile offenders.

This Comment will argue that the traditional methods of punishment--in particular, detention--often fail to sufficiently address the problems presented by crimes in which the offender is a juvenile. The shortcomings of utilizing detention as the primary method of dealing with juvenile crime create a void in effective response mechanisms, which this Comment argues can be filled by further integrating restorative justice practices and principles into the juvenile justice system. Focusing on the City of Chicago, this Comment examines the present state of the juvenile criminal justice system and identifies possible barriers and solutions to integrating restorative justice practices in a system focused primarily on detention. In doing so, this Comment refers frequently to guidance provided by practitioners of restorative justice from Minnesota, a state is seen by many restorative justice proponents as a model for integrating restorative techniques. (13)

1. WHAT IS RESTORATIVE JUSTICE?

   Restorative justice is a broad label that encompasses a plethora of different models, roughly bound together by the belief that the traditional American criminal justice system ignores a key step in "rebuild[ing] a sense of justice" because of its somewhat myopic focus on punishing offenders. (14) In contrast, restorative justice techniques generally aim to focus on relationships and to relocate the sphere of power to "their rightful owners"--"offenders, victims, and their respective communities." (15) Although punishment may play a part in restorative justice techniques, the central focus remains on relationships between the affected parties, and healing reached through a deliberative process guided by those affected parties. (16)

   The "deliberative process" may take many forms depending upon the nature of the infraction to be addressed and the specific parties involved. (17) The three methods established as "hallmarks of restorative justice" include: victim-offender mediation, (18) family or community group conferencing, (19) and peacemaking or sentencing circles. (20)

   The first method, victim-offender mediation, is a practice that allows a victim to voluntarily face the offender in a secure space with a trained mediator. (21) Although the primary actors needed for victim-offender mediation are the victim and offender, there may be cases where the two parties are joined by family members or other individuals whom either party wishes to include. (22) In mediation, the offender is given a chance to better understand the effects of his crime and to attempt to make amends with the victim. (23) The mediation also allows both parties to "develop a plan that addresses the harm." (24) These mediations are fairly widely used, with over 300 such programs in North America and "over 500 in Europe." (25)

   The second method, group conferencing originated in New Zealand and brings together the victim and the offender, as well as the friends, family, and other "key supporters" of both parties. (26) A group conference is similar to the victim mediation method in that it allows victims to voluntarily participate in shaping the response to the crime and allows offenders to better understand the crime's impact while simultaneously offering offenders the opportunity to take responsibility for their actions. (27) Another function of the group conferencing method not present in the victim-offender mediation model is to allow both parties to connect with key community support. (28) Frank Jewell, St. Louis County commissioner and former executive director of Men as Peacemakers (MAP), (29) has elaborated by explaining that "family group conferencing is a conference style in which there is a set agenda, people come in and sit on opposite sides of a table, [and] you go very carefully through every piece in exactly the same way every time." (30) Each conference is led by a trained facilitator and "typically begins with the offender describing the incident, followed by each participant describing the impact of the incident on his or her life." (31)

   The third and final method of restorative justice involves peacemaking or sentencing circles, also known as restorative circles. This method is based upon the circle approach, a method originally used in aboriginal cultures to create safe spaces for dialogue before it was eventually integrated into criminal justice structures as an alternative method of sentencing in Canadian courts. (32) Circles can be used for a variety of different ends, including sentencing, addressing internal conflicts in juvenile facilities, and aiding a juvenile's transition and integration upone leaving a facility to reenter society. (33) When used in a sentencing capacity, the goal of circles is to reach consensus between the victim, the offender, their respective supporters, and the community--judges, police officers, and so on--on an acceptable sentence for the crime committed. (34) More generally, the goal of circles is to "build[] a sense of community around shared community values" and to address "underlying causes of criminal" behavior. (35)

   Jewell has explained that his organization utilizes the "restorative circle process" as opposed to a "family group conferencing style." (36) Although family group conferences allow the victim and offender to invite "key members of their support systems" into the conversation, (37) Jewell said he feels that the circle approach may be more advantageous because it facilitates a higher degree of community involvement. (38)

   Although the three main restorative methods may be distinguished from one another in terms of the parties involved or the exact processes used, their end goals--including empowering victims and providing support to offenders so that they can understand the effects of their own actions--are similar and overlap frequently. (39)

2. RESTORATIVE JUSTICE AS AN EFFECTIVE ALTERNATIVE TO INCARCERATION

   The United States has the highest rate of incarceration in the world, (40) but several factors indicate that this response is ineffective--particularly with respect to juveniles. Some of the primary criticisms of juvenile incarceration include: its inability to effectively address recidivism, its high cost, its failure to account for the decreased juvenile culpability, and its focus on the offenders rather than the victims of crime. In this Part, I explore the rationale behind each of these criticisms.

   1. RESTORED OFFENDERS ARE LESS LIKELY TO RECIDIVATE

      The first major criticism of incarceration as a response to juvenile crime is its inability to effectively deter youth from reoffending. (41) In Illinois specifically, reports have shown that over half of the juveniles leaving Department of Juvenile Justice facilities are reincarcerated either in juvenile or adult facilities. (42) More generally, the Department of Justice has stated that almost two-thirds of released prisoners recidivate within three years of being reintroduced into society, a fact that further calls into question the specific deterrent effect of detention. (43)

      While detention may not have the desired deterrent...