Brattleboro Citizens' Breakfast - January 20, 2012 - Gibson-Aiken Center - Brattleboro VT

Restorative Justice - Community Justice

One principle of Restorative Justice is returning balance to the community.
Another principle is that the community is a part of the solution to maintaining
the balance. (1)

Presenter: Larry Hames - director@brattleborocjc.org - 251-8142
Brattleboro Community Justice Center - http://www.brattleborocjc.org/

The Brattleboro Community Justice Center (BCJC) has been in existence since about 2003 and is one of 16 such centers around the State; it receives support from the Department of Corrections to address the “least impactful to the most impactful behavior” in our community. The BCJC has two paid staff, but close to 50 volunteers who are trained in restorative justice (RJ) practice.

RJ practice works with the person who creates harm within our community and addresses the need to make repair to the people who were harmed. RJ is a type of justice common in many tribal societies and, in modern times, since the 1970’s has been introduced in the States. It represents a paradigm shift from traditional western criminal justice. RJ would say that punishment is not necessarily the only thing to be done in response to harm.

The BCJC has intervened with residents in the Town to address mischief and vandalism incidents and to try to deescalate neighborhood disputes through the use of mediation. There are several mediators in the area and an educational program in Vermont but not many paying jobs in the field. While BCJC first deals with the person who committed the offense, attempts are made to contact the victim to bring that person into the conversation. Failing that, the volunteers on a panel become the voice of the victim. Depending upon how quickly the process moves along, the goal is to come up with a way to repair the harm and to tailor that repair to the community in some meaningful way. An example given was the individual who was driving donuts in a parking lot and ruined a garden; he replanted the garden.

The court has been involved in providing ways for RJ to become involved in the court process.

At the far end of the continuum -- dealing with the most egregious behavior, the offender is sent to jail, which the legislature is now understanding is “a one way ticket to nowhere”, so $5 million was allocated to fund restorative programs throughout Vermont. A UVM study (2) showed a 12% to 25% reduction in recidivism for those offenders who go through the reparative process. Ninety-five percent of prisoners will be back in Brattleboro after they have done their time. Only 5% will be locked up forever. The BCJC has done intervention with sex offenders who are considered the worst of all prisoners, often held segregated from other prisoners for their safety. We have come to see through education and research that individuals are more than the crimes they commit. Through COSA’s (Circles of Support and Accountability) we engage prisoners upon discharge to uphold standards of conduct.

Question Period:

There is an arrangement with the State’s Attorney’s office whereby an individual who has been harmed can use the RJ process as opposed to the formal filing of charges. The BCJC would contact both parties and arrange for a dialog to start the process; if both parties don’t attend, the matter is referred to the court.

When a prisoner is referred to the BCJC, the prisoner would be interviewed at the prison by one individual from the center. If the prisoner takes responsibility, then he or she would be engaged in meetings with a COSA.

Regarding an incident that occurred a number of years ago on Canal Street, while police attending a community meeting may not have offered BCJC assistance, there was a police affiliated social worker who was involved. BCJC did offer assistance, but the offer was not taken up. It is not realistic to take up every case; we could not respond to every case. The BCJC does do a fair amount of public relations to get the word out about its programs, from a film series at the Library to special events.

The BCJC does attend the monthly landlords meeting and has pitched to landlords to consider providing housing for ex-offenders. There is some incentive as there are monies available to guarantee the first and last months’ rent to the landlord, which the offender must then pay back to the BCJC.


(1) Elder Phil Gatensby, “What role does community play in Restorative Justice?,” Facing the Questions, Restorative Justice Week, 2007, http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/text/rj/rj2007/pdf/6_e.pdf

(2) Humphrey, Burford & Huey, “Reparative versus Standard Probation: Community Justice Outcomes,” http://www.doc.state.vt.us/about/reports/reparative-v-probation/view