Abstract
Increases in protests have contributed to US courts and law enforcement referring more and different types of cases to alternative justice pathways including variously named cautionary, reparative, restorative, and rehabilitative options that involve wide-ranging expectations of the accused person(s). Of the options that involve programming requirements, many originated as extensions of court diversion, having honed their approaches with lower tier, non- or less-serious cases. Challenged by a referral of a case involving non-violent civil disobedience (NVCD) to a local Community Justice Centre (CJC), Burford, Jolly, and Gehman carried out an exploratory study aimed to better understand the strengths and limitations of the Centre’s standard, incident-based approach with more complex matters including environmental harms and other complex situations that intersect with structurally reproduced inequalities. Drawing from multiple sources, the authors conclude that widening the restorative vision, along with the menu and sequencing of restorative and responsive pathways on offer, is urgently needed to engage competently and ethically with such matters.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
See Restorative Justice Panels at the webpage of Burlington Community Justice Center https://www.burlingtoncjc.org/restorative-justice-panels (last accessed January 24, 2022).
- 2.
There is precedence in the State of Vermont for using loosely defined restorative justice practices with non-violent civil disobedience (NVCD). Students engaged in non-violent civil disobedience were arrested by campus police ‘when it became apparent they wanted to be arrested’ (UPI Archives, 1987). The then local prosecuting attorney declined to take matters to court. Faced with considerable media attention, the university offered what the students understood as a ‘restorative’ alternative to being expelled (personal communications with students). Each individual student was offered the opportunity to write an essay addressing the topic ‘What hill are you willing to die on?’ in which they were to acknowledge, among other things, the harms they had inflicted on the university community. Students were required, under threat of expulsion, to sign an agreement that they would not disclose to anyone the details of the assignment or reveal the conditions under which it was undertaken. Some students saw the requirement for ‘secrecy’, the admonishment of any claim they had to morally challenge the university, and the threat of expulsion for failure to comply with the assignment, as most un-restorative.
- 3.
Many departments in the state, including the DOC and police agencies, have only recently begun to invest in data tracking systems that would shed light on racial disparities in enforcement, including traffic stops, referrals to court diversion, and other indicators of racialised practices (Davis, 2021; French, 2021; Petenko, 2022). At the same time, advocates remain alert to the biases in data collection (cf., Henne et al., 2021; Shelby et al., 2021).
- 4.
We use the term ‘a restorative approach’ as a blanket term for reparative, reintegrative, restorative, and transformative justice, while acknowledging their meaningful differences.
- 5.
Copies of the consent forms and procedures, the survey, and other protocol descriptions used in the study can be obtained directly from the corresponding author. This study was approved by the University of Vermont Institutional Review Board (IRB) (CHRBS #STUDY00001186).
- 6.
Fifteen of the interviews were with individuals. Three small group interviews involved a total of nine persons.
- 7.
Created in 1969, the Vermont Agency of Human Services oversees the Departments for Children and Families and of Corrections, Disabilities, Aging and Independent Living, Health, Mental Health and Vermont Health Access.
- 8.
That number is currently being reduced through amalgamations in some districts.
- 9.
While Section § 2a of the law sets out policy objectives and details the requirements of offenders who participate in restorative justice, its impact has been limited by its location in statutes that applied only to the DOC instead of the wider State Criminal Justice legislation (Personal Communication with John Perry November 26, 2021). This narrowed the work of CJCs whose main source of funding comes from the DOC.
- 10.
Amy Cooper was arrested for calling 911 on a Black birdwatcher in New York’s Central Park. Her criminal case was dismissed after completing a diversionary counseling program that prosecutors said was meant to educate her on the harm of her actions (Sisak, 2021).
- 11.
For example, Joseph Rosenbaum, Anthony Huber, and Gaige Grosskreutz in the US and Breiner David Cucuñame in Columbia.
- 12.
- 13.
Martin Luther King Jr. “The Other America” speech, March 10, 1968. Retrieved from: 24/01/2022, https://www.beaconbroadside.com/broadside/2018/03/martin-luther-king-jrs-the-other-america-still-radical-50-years-later.html (last accessed January 25, 2022).
References
Adams, P. (2019). Families and farmworkers: Social justice in responsive and restorative practices. In G. Burford, J. Braithwaite, & V. Braithwaite (Eds.), Restorative and responsive human services (pp. 91–99). New York: Routledge.
Adams, P., & Chandler, S. M. (2004). Responsive regulation in child welfare: Systematic challenges to mainstreaming the family group conference. Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare, 31(1), 93–116.
Barker, K., Baker, M., & Watkins, A. (March, 2021, updated June, 2021). In city after city, police mishandled black lives matter protests. The New York Times. Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/20/us/protests-policing-george-floyd.html (last accessed 16 November 2021).
Bazemore, G., & Umbreit, M. (2001, February). A comparison of four restorative conferencing models. OJJDP Juvenile Justice Bulletin. Retrieved from: https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/184738.pdf (last accessed 16 November 2021).
Beckett, L. (2020, September 5). Nearly all Black Lives Matter protests are peaceful despite Trump narrative, report finds. The Guardian. Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/05/nearly-all-black-lives-matter-protests-are-peaceful-despite-trump-narrative-report-finds (last accessed 16 November 2021).
Boyes-Watson, C. (1999). In the belly of the beast? Exploring dilemmas of state-sponsored restorative Justice. Contemporary Justice Review 2(3): 261–281.
Boyes-Watson, C., & Pranis, K. (2020). Circle forward: Building a restorative school community (Revised Edition). St. Paul: Living Justice Press.
Braithwaite, J. (2002). Restorative justice and responsive regulation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Braithwaite, J. (2020). Restorative justice and reintegrative shaming. In C. Chouhy, J. C. Cochran, & C. L. Johnson (Eds.), Criminal justice theory, volume 26: Explanations and effects (pp. 281–308). New York, Routledge.
Brisman, A. (2007). Crime-environment relationships and environmental justice. Seattle Journal for Social Justice, 6(2), 727–825.
Brisman, A. & South, N. (2020). Routledge International Handbook of Green Criminology (2nd edition). New York: Routledge.
Brouwer, D. (2019, September 9). F-35 opponents arrested during sit-in at Leahy’s Burlington office. Seven Days. Retrieved from: https://www.sevendaysvt.com/OffMessage/archives/2019/09/09/f-35-opponents-arrested-during-sit-in-at-leahys-burlington-office (last accessed 16 November 2021).
Burford, G., Braithwaite, J., & Braithwaite, V. (2019). Restorative and responsive human services. New York: Routledge.
Clamp, K. (2014). A ‘local’ response to community problems? A critique of community justice panels. British Journal of Community Justice, 12(2): 21–34.
Crist, L., & Bech, T. (2018). Bending the curve to improve our child protection system: A multiyear analysis of Vermont’s child protection system & recommendations for improvement. Vermont: Vermont Parent Representation Center. Retrieved from: https://vtprc.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/BTC-11-09-18-FINAL.pdf (last accessed 16 November 2021).
Davis, X. R. (2021). Report of the executive director of racial equity. General Assembly of Vermont. Retrieved from: https://legislature.vermont.gov/assets/Legislative-Reports/EDRE-Report-to-GA-2021.pdf (last accessed 16 November 2021).
Delmas, C. & Brownlee, K. (2021, Winter). Civil disobedience. In E. N. Zalta (Ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved from: https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2021/entries/civil-disobedience/ (last accessed 27 December 2021).
Dembenski, J. (2004). Restorative justice in Vermont: Part two. Vermont Bar Journal, 30(1), 49–53.
Fox, K. J. (2013). Circles of support & accountability: Qualitative evaluation. Vermont: State of Vermont Department of Corrections.
Fox, K. J. (2012). Redeeming communities: Restorative offender reentry in a risk society. Victims & Offenders, 7(1), 97–120.
Fox, K. J. (2010). Second chances: A comparison of civic engagement models for offender reentry programs. Criminal Justice Review, 35(3), 335–353.
French, E. (2021, April 8). Legislators want new data system to understand where racial disparities begin. VTDigger. Retrieved from: https://vtdigger.org/2021/04/08/legislators-want-new-data-system-to-understand-where-racial-disparities-begin/ (last accessed 25 January 2022).
Gallagher, N. (1999). Breeding better Vermonters: The eugenics project in the green mountain state (Revisiting New England: The new regionalism). UPNE.
Galloway, A., & Keays, A. J. (2021, June 23). Panel: Troopers discriminated against Clemmons Family Farm director. VTDigger. Retrieved from: https://vtdigger.org/2021/06/23/panel-troopers-discriminated-against-clemmons-family-farm-director/ (last accessed 16 November 2021).
Gallup Sharecare. (2018). Well Being Index: 2017 State well-being rankings. Sharecare. Retrieved from: https://wellbeingindex.sharecare.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Gallup-Sharecare-State-of-American-Well-Being_2017-State-Rankings_FINAL.pdf.
Geoff, K., & McCarthy, J. D. (2021, October). Critics claim BLM protests were more violent than 1960s civil rights ones. That’s just not true. The Washington Post. Retrieved from: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/10/12/critics-claim-blm-was-more-violent-than-1960s-civil-rights-protests-thats-just-not-true/ (last accessed 29 December 2021).
Gokee, A. (2021, February 21). 90 years after Vermont eugenics survey, lawmakers propose apology to those affected. VTDigger. Retrieved from: https://vtdigger.org/2021/02/21/90-years-after-vermont-eugenics-survey-lawmakers-propose-apology-to-those-affected/ (last accessed 29 December 2021).
Haraway, D. J. (2016). Staying with the trouble: Making kin in the chthulucene. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Henne, K., Shelby, R. & Harb, J. (2021). The datafication of #MeToo: Whiteness, Racial Capitalism, and Anti-Violence Technologies. Big Data & Society, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1177/20539517211055898.
Humphrey, J. A., Burford, G., & Dye, M. H. (2012). A longitudinal analysis of reparative probation and recidivism. Criminal Justice Studies, 25(2), 117–130.
Karp, D., & Drakulich, K. M. (2004). Minor crime in a quaint setting: Practices, outcomes, and limits of Vermont reparative probation boards. Criminology & Public Policy, 3(4), 655–686.
Kenyon, J. (2015). The brutal 1981 crime that spawned woodside. Valley News. Retrieved from. https://www.vnews.com/Archives/2015/02/Woodsidesidebar-jsk-vn-022215 (last accessed 16 November 2021).
Llewellyn, J., & Morrison, B. (2018). Deepening the relational ecology of restorative justice. The International Journal of Restorative Justice, 1(3), 343–355.
Loftus, S. (2018). Proposal to remove Guy Bailey’s name from library open to public comment. The Vermont Cynic. Retrieved from: https://vtcynic.com/news/proposal-to-remove-guy-baileys-name-from-library-open-to-public-comment/ (last accessed 29 December 2021).
McCold, P. (2000). Toward a holistic vision of restorative juvenile justice: A reply to the Maximalist model. Contemporary Justice Review, 3(4), 357–414.
McGreal, C. (2022, January 18). How Exxon is using an unusual law to intimidate critics over its climate denial. The Guardian. Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jan/18/exxon-texas-courts-critics-climate-crimes?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other (last accessed 18 January 2022).
Melamed, S. (2021, March 27). Hundreds arrested in Philly uprisings may avoid prosecution through restorative justice. Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved from: https://www.inquirer.com/news/philadelphia-unrest-restorative-justice-george-floyd-larry-krasner-20210326.html (last accessed 29 December 2021).
Merrick, G., & Newbury, A. (2020). Proactively protecting Vermont’s participatory democracy: Reforms to election structure, campaign finance, and voter engagement. Vermont Law Review, 45, 481–562.
Ngozi Adichie, C. (2009, July). The danger of the single story. [Video]. TED Conferences. Retrieved from: https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story (last accessed 16 November 2021).
Ommer, R. (2021, September 10). The importance of scale complexities in fisheries research. University of British Columbia Institute of Fisheries. Seminar presented to the Institute of Oceans and Fisheries, University of British Columbia. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJWcs_f-ksc (last accessed 16 November 2021).
Perry, J. G., & Gorczyk, J. F. (1997). Restructuring corrections: Using market research in Vermont. Corrections Management Quarterly 1, 26–35.
Petenko, E. (2022, January 9). The pandemic tanked traffic stops in 2020—but racial disparities remained, data shows. Vermont Digger. Retrieved from: https://vtdigger.org/2022/01/09/the-pandemic-tanked-traffic-stops-in-2020-but-racial-disparities-remained-data- (last accessed 29 December 2021).
Prison Policy Initiative. (2018). Vermont Incarceration Pie Chart 2018. Retrieved from: https://www.prisonpolicy.org/profiles/VT.html#:~:text=Vermont%20has%20an%20incarceration%20rate%20of%20288%20per,in%20Vermont%20and%20why.%20Jump%20to%20COVID-19%20data (last accessed 16 November 2021).
Racial Disparities Advisory Panel. (2020). Report of the racial disparities in the criminal and juvenile justice systems advisory panel concerning Section 19, Act 148 –An act concerning justice reinvestment. Retrieved from: https://legislature.vermont.gov/assets/Legislative-Reports/RDAPAct148Report-FINIS.pdf (last accessed 16 November 2021).
Richards, K. (2014). Blurred lines: reconsidering the concept of ’diversion’ in youth justice systems in Australia. Youth Justice, 14(2), 122–139.
Shelby, R., Harb, J., & Henne, K. (2021). Whiteness in and through Data Protection: An Intersectional Approach to Anti-Violence Apps and #MeToo Bots. Internet Policy Review, 10(4), 1–25.
Showalter, P. (2022). State-funded restorative justice in Vermont. The future of structure, funding, and flow. IRP Spring.
Sisak, M. (2021, February 16). Case dropped after woman in racist NYC run-in gets therapy. AP News. Retrieved from: https://apnews.com/article/amy-cooper-case-dropped-ca04b20d80580837645641480303b558 (last accessed 29 December 2021).
Sparrow, M. (2020, July 30). Fundamentals of regulatory design. Kindle Direct Publishing. Retrieved from: https://scholar.harvard.edu/msparrow/fundamentals-of-regulatory-design (last accessed 29 December 2021).
Stand Up Resources. (2020). Saint Joseph’s Orphanage Restorative Inquiry. Retrieved from: https://www.stjosephsrjinquiry.com/ (last accessed 29 December 2021).
UPI Archives. (1987, October 29). Police arrest 17 students in CIA protest. Retrieved from: https://www.upi.com/Archives/1987/10/29/Police-arrest-17-students-in-CIA-protest/7092562482000/ (last accessed 2 January 2022).
Vaandering, D., & Reimer, K. (2019). Listening deeply to public perceptions of restorative justice: What can researchers and practitioners learn? The International Journal of Restorative Justice, 2(2), 186–208.
Vermont Agency of Natural Resources. (2017, November 21). Natural resource damage assessment and restoration rules. Retrieved from: https://dec.vermont.gov/sites/dec/files/2017_11_29_NRDA_Rule_Ch_36A_ADOPTED_CLEAN.PDF (last accessed 16 November 2021).
Vermontbiz. (2022, January 20). Vermont law school and DCF to infuse state work with restorative justice principles. Retrieved from: https://vermontbiz.com/news/2022/january/20/vermont-law-school-and-dcf-infuse-state-work-restorative-justice-principles (last accessed 22 January 2022).
Vermont Census. (2019, July 1). Retrieved from: https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/VT/PST045219 (last accessed 16 November 2021).
Walters, J. (2020, February 20). Final reading: Abenaki tribe supports statehouse eugenics apology. VtDigger. Retrieved from: https://vtdigger.org/2020/02/20/final-reading-abenaki-tribe-supports-statehouse-eugenics-apology/ (last accessed 16 November 2021).
Wilson, R.J., & Fox, K.J. (2019). Why do we exclude the community in “community safety”. In G. Burford, V. Braithwaite, & J. Braithwaite (Eds.), Restorative and responsive human services (pp. 195–209). New York: Routledge.
Acknowledgements
We thank the people who volunteered their time to respond to the survey and who generously contributed to our inquiry through interviews, consultations, and guidance. We thank the slate of international and national researchers, policy leaders, administrators, and practitioners who have given so freely of their time, often contributing their own travel costs, to support restorative justice development efforts in Vermont over the past 20+ years to share knowledge from places as far flung as AU, NZ, EU, UK, CA. We are happy to share these experiences from Vermont and hope they contribute to the international and global dialogue.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Jolly, R., Gehman, R., Burford, G. (2022). Looking for the Restoration in Restorative Justice’s Response to Civil Disobedience. In: Pali, B., Forsyth, M., Tepper, F. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Environmental Restorative Justice. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-04223-2_18
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-04223-2_18
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-04222-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-04223-2
eBook Packages: Law and CriminologyLaw and Criminology (R0)