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To understand the roots of RAIV, let's look at Restorative Justice origins and principles and then contrast them with RAIV
Restorative Justice principles are based on the ways indigenous cultures throughout the world including Canada, Scandinavia, New Zealand, and the United States addressed harms caused within the group. Restorative Justice adapted these principles basically as follows:
The person who caused harm (the responsible party) takes responsibility for their actions with a desire to repair the harm they caused to the harmed party and community. The responsible party talks about what they did, what they were thinking during their actions (so they can learn from the consequences of their thinking) and how they believe others were impacted.
The harmed party describes what happened for them and the (physical, emotional, etc.) harms they suffered. This gives the harmed party a voice that they might not have in the punitive judicial system.
Other members of the community then talk about how they were affected and harmed.
When everyone has spoken and the responsible party understands the harms, an agreement may be written about what will be done to repair the harms to the extent possible.
The process is facilitated and the agreements are reached by consensus of all circle participants. A timeline is set for the responsible party to complete their agreements to repair the harms they caused. Depending on the agency, when the agreement items have been completed, if there are criminal legal charges, the charges may be dismissed.
Since a person is taking responsibility right away and wanting to repair harm, the focus of restorative justice is understanding the harms caused and how to repair the harm. In the punitive justice system, most of the time is spent proving whether a person committed a crime. Lawyers help people who caused harm take as little responsibility for their actions as possible. If a person is found guilty the judge can choose from a range of punishments prescribed by law that may not really help the harmed or responsible party.
How does RAIV differ from Restorative Justice?
RAIV is a community-based program that does not focus on criminal legal processes. So there is no effort to address criminal charges.
The focus of RAIV does not center on bringing harmed and responsible parties together. RAIV is intended for each party to take action on their own healing journey. It may be possible for both parties to meet in Circle after both parties have completed their independent RAIV journey. It could be that both parties may not be available or agreeable to meeting together. There is no obligation or expectation that harmed parties and responsible parties meet as a part of RAIV.
Restorative Justice circles meet for only a few hours while RAIV Circles have many meetings based on the needs of the person requesting the RAIV process and their healing journey. It is up to the Core Member —the person requesting the RAIV Circle — and the RAIV Circle Keepers to agree when a Core Member has "graduated" and then the Circle concludes.
The Core Member guides the Circle determining what they need in their healing journey and how they want to take responsibility for themselves and repair harm. When the Core Member is a harmed party, they work to restore their sense of autonomy and personal power. When the Core Member is a responsible party their work is to be accountable for their actions and learn new behaviors in relationship. Repairing harm may not be directly to the harmed party if there are restrictions that prevent contact.
While RAIV is based on Restorative Justice principles the differences allow a person additional support to transform and heal.
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