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Looking Beyond Bars to Meet Crime Survivors’ Needs
Key Excerpts from Article on Website of Vera
Posted: May 7th, 2026
https://www.vera.org/news/looking-beyond-bars-to-meet-crime-...
Justice stretches beyond punishment. By a nearly two-to-one margin, most people harmed by crime prefer that the legal system focus more on “crime prevention, crisis assistance, and strong communities,” rather than punishment. Seventy-five percent of harmed parties want to give people credit toward reducing their prison sentence if they participate in programs like mental health treatment, education, and job training. Restorative justice is a broad term, but it generally refers to practices that place healing, reintegration, acknowledgment of harm, and forms of restitution at the heart of “justice.” That’s a departure from how the United States criminal legal system typically functions, which almost exclusively uses punishment as its version of justice. Jane and John’s case shows how a restorative justice practice can work as a diversion program that offers an alternative to traditional criminal prosecution. One of the prosecutors working the case ... approached Jane about working with [Central Virginia Community Justice], and she was immediately interested—a critical first step. John was interested, too, so the prosecutor contacted Erin Campbell, CVCJ co-director. The first step for Campbell and her two co-facilitators was to get all five parties—the prosecution and defense attorneys, the harmed party, the responsible person, and the facilitators—to agree on how the process would be structured. Campbell says she makes sure everyone involved is aligned.
Note: Explore more positive stories like this on repairing criminal justice.
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