We need to understand and address the causes of crime to prevent future occurrences. Restorative justice opens the opportunities for personal and community transformation. This transformation cannot be mapped, planned or put into a program or structure. Nevertheless, it can be encouraged and nurtured. United Methodists have the will, the vision, the opportunity and the responsibility to be advocates for systemic change.
Expectations are high for the faith community to lead the way in practicing restorative justice.
We need to own and advocate a vision of restorative justice. We need to be supportive to members of the congregation who are victims, offenders, and their families, and especially to those who work toward restoration in the criminal justice system. The Church must initiate models of restorative justice with service providers, policy makers and law enforcement. We need to work in partnership with the criminal justice system to mak e it more open, accessible, humane, effective, rehabilitative, and less costly. We need to see our own complicity in community breakdowns, and in the racism and classism present in the enactment and enforcement of criminal law.