Unit 4

A Different Path to Justice

Reading One Restorative JUSTICE1) prevents crime supports victims of crime builds stronger communities

Votes YES for Restorative Justice for Littleton

1 Crime What is Restorative Justice? hurts people. It hurts communities. Restorative justice helps people and

communities heal. Victims get a voice.2) Offenders take responsibility for their actions. 2 How does Restorative Justice work?

STEP 1 : MEETING In a face-to-face meeting,3) victim and offender take turns telling their story of the crime;4)5) what happened before, during, and after the crime;6) how the crime affected7) their lives; and how they feel about it. STEP 2 : COMPENSATION8) The offender and the victim decide together how the offender will compensate for9) the damages caused by the crime. Sometimes offenders pay money to the victim. Sometimes they fix what was broken. Always they apologize for the pain they caused10) the victim, and sometimes that is all the compensation the victim wants. 3 Why do we need RJ?

We should stop filling our prisons with young men and women. Prison alone does not stop crime. Almost 50 percent of the men and women in U.S. prisons have been there before. And at the cost of $40,000 a year per person, prison is very expensive. We need

1) ; Restorative justice is an approach to justice where offenders are encouraged to take responsibility for their actions and "to repair the harm they've done- by apologizing, returning stolen money, or (for example) doing community service". - excerpted from Wikipedia; http://www.kac.or.kr/anabaptism/faithandlife/peace/ri 2) voice : , 3) In a face-to-face meeting : 4) take turns ~ing : ~; take turns telling their story of the crime: ) They took turns driving the car. . 5) ; : . 6) crime sin . 7) affect A : A 8) compensation : money or services that someone receives because he or she has suffered injury, loss, or damage 9) compensate for A : A 10) cause A B : A B ; cause . [cause++to ] ~ .

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to try something new. 4 How does RJ prevent11) crime?

When offenders go through RJ programs, they change. They feel differently about crime. They take responsibility for12) their actions. For the first time ever, many offenders begin to understand the victim's feelings. They work to make things right.13) Seventy percent of offenders who go through restorative justice programs do not commit crimes14) again. They don't return to prison. Restorative justice makes communities safer and saves money. 5 How does RJ help victims?

Victims get answers to their questions about the crime. They help decide what the compensation should be. Victims who go through RJ programs feel safer and less afraid than those who do not. 6 Won't RJ programs put dangerous criminals back on our streets?

NO. A restorative justice program is not instead of prison. It's in addition to prison. If an offender is in prison for 30 years, the restorative justice program won't change that. But both victim and offender can still meet and learn from each other. In all restorative justice programs, both offenders and victims must choose to be in the program. Usually really dangerous criminals15) won't. But many people who commit smaller crimes will. And most people who do enter16) restorative justice programs will not return to prison.

We don't need bigger prisons. We need Restorative Justice.

Vote YES for Restorative Justice.

11) prevent : 12) take responsibility for A : A 13) make things right: ( ) right things , (wrong things) . 14) commit crimes : 15) criminal : , 16) enter : ~ , ~

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Reading Two MOVING PAST17) THE CRIME 1 by Jack Billings

On May 30, 2006, 53-year-old Adam Carson was driving to work.18) While he

was waiting at a stoplight,19) a truck crashed into his car. The driver of the truck was 21-year-old Lee Giron, and he was drunk.20) Lee walked away from the crash, but Adam was killed. 2 Valerie Carson, Adam's wife, said, "I wanted to kill the man who killed my

husband. I was so angry. So hurt. I wanted to scream at him-to tell him what it's like to have my whole life taken away. I didn't want him to just go to prison.21) I wanted him to do something to help me." 3 At 21, Lee was surprised and sad that22) the accident killed the older man. But

in the months that followed, he mostly worried about23) going to prison. In the end, the court24) found Lee guilty of drunk driving,25) and he went to prison for one year.26) In prison, he didn't think about the accident or the Carsons. He thought only about what he wanted to do when he got out. When asked27) if28) he wanted to be in the restorative justice program at his prison, he was afraid. He felt terrible29) and didn't want to meet the wife of30) the man he had killed. What could he say to her? But finally he agreed. Valerie too was afraid to meet the man who had killed her husband. But she was still in so much pain, she thought maybe meeting him could change how she felt. She too agreed to be in the program. 4 At their first meeting, Valerie told her story. She described her anger, her

17) move past : ~ 18) work : 19) stoplight : 20) drunk : when someone has had too much alcohol 21) go to prison : prison the . . ) He went to sea. . . ) She went to the bed. . , . 22) that. ) I'm sorry that you lost your job. . 23) worry about = be worried about 24) court : , , 25) find(judge) A guilty of B : A B ; B . ) The court found him guilty of murder. . 26) he went to prison for one year: . 27) = When he was asked 28) = whether 29) felt terrible : 30) of , (the man) of .

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sadness, and her fears. Lee listened, and at the end of her story he apologized to her. At their second meeting, Lee told his story. At their third meeting, Valerie and Lee decided what Lee could do to compensate for the damage. "Nothing could ever31) bring my husband back," Valerie says. "But I felt if people could hear Lee's story, another lif e32) might be saved." And so Lee and Valerie agreed to work together giving talks to young people about drunk driving.33) This is how34) Valerie found herself traveling around the country for four years,35) working with the man who killed her husband. "Restorative justice helped me to stop seeing Lee as a monster.36) It helped me learn to forgive him."

31) ever 32) life : 33) giving talks to young people about drunk driving: work together . 34) how . 35) This is how Valerie found herself traveling around the country for four years: 4 . 36) monster: someone who is cruel and evil

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