Seeing the Ripple Effects of a Restorative Justice Model in Criminal Courts

We knew the charges would come. You pull down a statue of Christopher Columbus in front of the State Capitol surrounded by police in riot gear in front of television cameras and what else can you expect but a felony 1st degree Criminal Damage to Property or worse. Of course, as a St. Paul Criminal Defense Attorney, the next step is how you jump. We started talking about how we would put this before a jury, how we could take this to the Court of Appeals and even the Supremes to look at the law. In the end, we made the decision to approach the County and suggest a restorative justice model. Thankfully and to our surprise, the County was supportive and liked the idea. This certainly says a lot about the County.

Fast forward six months and my co-counsel Willow Anderson and I successfully navigated this model and lived to tell the tale. We were able to use a restorative justice model including three circles to bring in disparate groups from the community to discuss the harm in all senses and to come up with some answers. These groups included people from the faith community, politicians, community leaders, rule of law advocates including police, advocates for the tradition criminal justice model and more. After half a year, the State suspended prosecution and our client avoided jail but most importantly, the resolution involved a potential blueprint for addressing conflict that was fundamentally different than the traditional criminal justice system.

Where do you go from here?

The issue now is how to use this approach in more criminal cases here in Minnesota and across the country. Will others be interested? Will prosecutors expand their tradition views and consider alternatives. Some say they are open minded but are they really? Will they even consider it?

Within an hour of the resolution of our case, I received an email from another Twin Cities criminal defense lawyer seeking help and advice. It was a more traditional criminal case but we started discussing the fact of the case and how the model might apply. The restorative justice model has enormous value in broadening the options to a possible resolution and there might be possibilities here. Suffice it to say, I was completely thrilled.

Even more exciting, we received an email from a team of lawyers on the other side of the country who have a series of cases involving political demonstrations and monuments that are wrapped in historical conflict and trauma. Perfect. These are exactly the kinds of cases where a restorative justice model that includes community who can then articulate how they have been harmed by this, on all sides, to come together and find common ground and maybe even resolution. It is so much more effective than the tradition criminal justice approach that fails to address any of these challenges.

One of the challenges is convincing prosecutors and some in the community that this is not simply a vehicle to allow your client to walk. I get that. It honestly isn’t but it also gives opportunities to succeed and fail. However, this is the long game here. How do we get to the place we want to be for the individuals involved and to society as a whole. This shift in thinking isn’t simple and takes time but is certainly worth the effort.

It is quite an endeavor to try to promote a system like this. Of course, from the perspective of a criminal defense attorney, the criminal justice system is notoriously slow in responding to anything that is new. “This is what we do and how we have always done it. We fight and we win or lose and somebody goes to jail or goes free.” Of course, then what? It resolves nothing, addresses nothing and is frequently a failure.

Maybe it is time to try something new. Restorative justice may provide some new answers. It absolutely was for our client. This may just be one more arrow in the quiver for every criminal defense lawyer.