Restorative Dialogue (RD): A form of Restorative Justice that gives victims of certain minor assaults or property damage a chance to talk with the harm-doer(s) who committed said crime(s) in a safe environment.

HOW IT HELPS 

• MCRC's Restorative Dialouge program opens the door to many possible outcomes. The spectrum ranges from an apology and increased understanding of the situation and what led to it; to actual steps to repair the harm done. The Resotrative Dialogue program is an integral part of MCRC.
• Victims can tell offenders how they were affected by the crime, receive answers to questions about the crime, and be directly involved in developing a workable plan to repair the harm.  Offenders, who have admitted responsibility for the offense, are held directly accountable for their actions, begin to understand the impact of what they did, and help develop a plan to repair the harm suffered by the victim.

BENEFITS for VICTIMS

• Are directly involved in the justice process
• Tell the offender about the impact of the crime on their lives
• Hold offenders accountable
• Repair harm
• Receive an apology
• Move toward closure

BENEFITS for OFFENDERS

• Help repair damage they caused
• Accept responsibility for their behavior
• Facilitate successful reintegration into the community
• Learn new skills of nonviolent conflict resolution
• Repair relationships with the community and persons
• Earn respect
• Possibly avoid trial and a criminal or delinquent record
• Possible repair in self regulation and damage (self hatred, guilt, denial)

BENEFITS for COMMUNITY

• Members learn to resolve conflicts peacefully
• Reduces fear and increases safety
• Restores responsibility to offenders to resolve own conflicts

BENEFITS for the JUSTICE SYSTEM

• Reduces costs by diverting cases from trial
• Increases public satisfaction by focusing on offender accountability and victim invovlvement
• Reduces court caseload
• Increases chance of successful restitution
• May reduce recidivism

HOW DOES THE PROCESS WORK?

• A case is referred to MCRC's RD program, usually by an adult/juvenile justice or victim services agency.
• A trained Restorative Dialogue Practitioner meets individually with the victim and the offender to explain the program, learn more about the offense, discuss the harm to the victim, and explore resolution for the victim and the offender.
• The victim and the offender voluntarily agree to a meeting, facilitated by the Restorative Dialogue Practitioner.  They can tell their stories to each other, ask each other questions, share their feelings, and discuss options for resolution.
• Once they have reached a resolution, an agreement is written and signed.

WHAT is RESTORATIVE REFLECTION (RR)?

• Restorative Reflection is applied to cases referred by the Juvenile Justice System in which MCRC is asked to provide a restorative procedure for a single participant. Often, these are diversionary cases.
• Restorative Reflection offers the Juvenile Justice decision-makers an additional option for those cases in which other outcomes would be counter to the health of the juvenile and the community. Generally, the referring agency has either made a judgement that there would be no benefit to having both parties dialogue, or the absent party has a prior offense that precludes him or her from diversion eligibility.
• RR cases include the juveniles' parents, and have the goal of giving the juvenile some additional tools to handle future conflicts in a healthier way.

Restorative Dialogue (RD) is a free and voluntary meeting between a victim of a crime and an offender, facilitated by a trained mediator.

RD has received considerable research attention, more than many other justice alternatives. With over twenty years of experience and research, in both North America and Europe, there is a solid basis for the following conclusions about the beneficial results of RD:

Offenders...

• Help repair damage they caused
• Accept responsibility for their behavior
• Facilitate successful reintegration into the community
• Learn new skills of nonviolent conflict resolution
• Repair relationships with the community and persons
• Earn respect
• Possibly avoid trial and a criminal or delinquent record

The Community...

• Learns to resolve conflicts peacefully
• Builds a safer and more caring environment
• Reduces fear and increases safety
• Enhances social wellbeing from the community service of volunteer RD mediators and offenders
• Restores responsibility to the community to resolve its own conflicts

The Justice System...

• Increases public satisfaction with system actions
• Increases success of restitution
• Reduces costs by diverting cases from trial
• Reduces court cases backlog
• Reduces recidivism and seriousness of future offenses