Restorative justice, for me, is more clearly the place where truth, justice, mercy and peace meet. Truth is seen as the deep sharing and hearing of each other s stories in a way that vindicates and empowers. Justice is seen as acknowledgment and restitution and respect for the other. It is not retributive, but restorative. Mercy recognizes that apology and forgiveness are mutually needed for restoration or reconciliation as well as for the acknowledgment that is key to justice.
Peace becomes a real peace based on right relations.
Ultimately, as people who are created by their relations, we need to build community. Restorative justice is the paradigm for community building. In all conflict we need to put the healing of the harm to the victims at the forefront of all our efforts, recognizing that in most conflicts there are victims on all sides of the conflict. We need to focus on acknowledgment and restitution as the approach that is needed for offenders, victims, and communities. We need to encourage dialogue and mediation, not an adversarial process.