Santa Barbara Officials Train for Restorative Justice

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — Deputies from the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Department participated in a four-day training program in alternative criminal justice methodologies.

The training sessions focused on New Zealand native Allan MacRae’s restorative justice program, which emphasizes techniques to bring together juvenile offenders, their families and victims.

The program promotes the use of family councils, which include law enforcement and prosecution representatives, in place of traditional courts.

The alternative system is based on the premise that offenders forced to confront, acknowledge, interact with, and contemplate the victims of their crimes will be less likely to engage in similar behaviors in the future.

Bringing all the parties together in a conference setting, family councils negotiate a detailed contract that specifies the kind of restitution required from the offender, prescribing particular conduct and actions and prohibiting certain behaviors. The councils also decide the terms of rehabilitation or treatment programs and custodial sentences.

Offenders who adhere to the terms of their family-council contract have their charges reduced or dropped once they have successfully completed the program, officials say. Those failing to fulfill the requirements are transferred to the traditional court system for adjudication.

Amid chronic overcrowding and recidivism, Santa Barbara established a blue ribbon panel to examine juvenile justice and recidivism, and develop programs that could prevent or reduce the number of juvenile offenders that move to the adult justice system.

Approximately 25 percent of juvenile offenders who successfully completed the family council process in New Zealand were reconvicted of another offense within 12 months, according to a study of restorative justice conducted by criminology faculty at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.