Law Prof is Redefining Justice

Seven weeks after law Prof. Tom Russell moved to Boulder, Colo., in 2000, student riots erupted a few blocks from his house. The incident prompted him to participate and later specialize in restorative justice, a relatively new approach to prosecuting crime.

Restorative justice focuses on the harm caused by the crime, as opposed to which law was broken. It explores how damage to the victim might be repaired, while the punitive approach asks how to best punish the offender. The process is ideal for minor offenses—such as theft, fighting or vandalism—because it gets the victim and the offender to sit down together. A facilitator mediates the conversation and a judge reviews the final decision.

Research shows that with restorative justice, victims have a higher level of satisfaction, and there is a reduced recidivism rate among offenders, Russell says. He has used ideas of restorative justice to help form the Central Denver Community Court, which represents seven high-crime neighborhoods. Funded by several nonprofit organizations, the court has tried nearly 300 cases since it opened in September 2003.