Restorative Justice is both a movement and a set of practices that stands as an alternative to retributive justice. It is a theory of justice that views crimes, injustice, and misconduct as violations of people and harm to the community. It focuses on repairing the harm caused by engaging all the stakeholders affected in an opportunity to discuss how they have been impacted and determine together what needs to be done to repair the harm in a process of accountability and restoration.
The dominant approach of retributive justice seems to create a system where those who are harmed have little voice in shaping a just response and punishments do little to promote accountability or the reclamation of identity in those who have created harm, which contributes to the fracturing of communities. Restorative practices offer a response to these dilemmas.
Restorative justice is borrowed from the ancient and indigenous practices employed in cultures around the globe, including Native American, African, First Nation Canadian, and so many others.