"Restorative Justice" Not Working? |TODAY|

Submitted by dan. on 2007-05-19 00:49.
Community Action | Crime Prevention | Public Education

Restorative justice is sometimes equated with community service penalties imposed by a court. While there can be a restorative dimension to community service, when it is judicially imposed it is unlikely to have the impact on victims and offenders that come from restorative encounters. That seems to be what the town of Weston is discovering

Vandals have torn out fences and heaved picnic tables into the water along the Eau Claire River trail. They've defaced just about every surface at Kennedy Park. They've sprayed shaving cream all over playground equipment at Kellyland Park.

"I mean, come on," Zuleger said. "Who are you hurting there? Little kids. You're just hurting little kids. And it's becoming such a cost to the village that we have to take a hard line on it."

So that's what Weston is doing.

Until now, vandals have faced "restorative justice." The village has tried to show them the error of their ways and punish them by requiring community service.

"But one kid, we put him to work shoveling gravel and pulling weeds, and he treated the whole thing like it was a joke," Zuleger said. "He just walked around smirking and laughing. It didn't help him."

Instead of restorative justice, Zuleger is urging the Village Board and municipal judge to adopt tougher penalties -- doubling maximum fines and applying them both to offenders under age 16 and to their parents.

If those rules are adopted, one incident can cost parents $500 in fines and thousands more in restitution.

Read it all.