III. Making Community Service Restorative

Restorative Justice

Restorative justice looks to achieve maximum involvement of the community, victim, and offender. It does not restrict itself to passive responsibility, which involves the offender clarifying his/her behavior, but focuses on active responsibility, which obliges the offender to take action to repair the harm done by their offense.

Restorative Values

Many restorative value schemes can be examined when establishing a community service program. Michael Hadley depicts restorative justice as a justice that includes “healing, personal responsibility, reconciliation, negotiation, vindication, forgiveness, and transformation of human situations.” Another value scheme is discussed by Pranis, Stuart, and Wedge in their book Peacemaking Circles. Their list of values expresses the philosophical and spiritual components of restorative justice and when used may promote better community service practices.

Restorative vs. Stigmatizing

If the offender is merely viewed as someone who has been convicted of a crime, rather than shown the above values, then that offender is more likely to become stigmatized. When an offender is stigmatized and treated poorly, they are less likely to learn positively from the community service experience.