Colleges Combat to Educate Student Offenders

According to restorativejustice.org, restorative justice emphasizes repairing the harm caused by crime. When victims, offenders, and community members meet to decide how to do that, the results can be transformational. Honestly, I have heard of such programs, but not at the collegiate level. In the article written by The Chronicle of Higher Education entitled With Restorative Justice, Colleges Strive to Educate Student Offenders," examines different institutions that conduct such programs to rehabilitate their students.

One example in the article pertains to a student who got so drunk one night that he didnt know what happened to him until he read his police report. His spree, he discovered, had included passing out in a family's front yard, scuffling with the father, and cursing at and fighting with police officers. The student was charged with felony assault and is serving two years' probation, taking alcohol-management classes, and performing 160 hours of community service around town. A student-conduct program at Colorado State, the student says, has given him more of chance to make ammends.

In a campus hearing, the student accepted responsibility for underage drinking and other offenses, and a conduct officer proposed the sanction of "restorative justice." Agreeing to it meant that, the student met with the family and the police officers from that night. He listened to their accounts of the incident, apologized, and worked out an agreement to "pay it forward," he stated. As part of the deal he will talk to students in the neighborhood about drinking responsibility and volunteer to drive for the university's RamRide program, which provides students safe rides home. The students stated the restorative-justice conference allows you take responsibility and learn from it while allowing you to see how powerful it is when you affect people.

Student-conduct administrators (i.e., dean of students, judicial offices, and etc.) around the country are hailing restorative justice as the next big thing. A blend of mediation and restitution, it seeks to resolve a conflict by identifying the harms caused and devising, with suggestions from both victims and offenders, an agreement to repair them. That approach to discipline grabs campus officials who carry the banner of student development. Restorative justice not only offers an alternative to the legalistic conduct systems colleges now shun; it also resonates with so many mission statements about personal growth and community.

A study this fall will examine whether restorative justice works on college campuses. In my opinion, I think its vital that institutions have these programs to help students learn from their mistakes depending on the situation and severity. Support groups that are discussed in this article are also important in rehabilitating the student and allowing them to share their experience(s) with others. This is definitely a hot topic in Student Affairs!