Benton County Willamette Criminal Justice Council – Restorative Justice Task Force

Mission

To encourage and develop responses to crime in Benton County that:

• provide victims with opportunities to have their needs identified and included in any plan of repair,
• hold offenders accountable in ways that create potential for their reintegration into the community, and
• actively involve the community in the design and implementation of justice.

About the Restorative Justice Task Force

Pilot Projects

• Victim Impact Panel

  Developing a Victim Impact Panel to provide victims of crime an opportunity to have their experiences heard by offenders in a safe, structured environment. The taskforce is looking to begin with a DUII panel and then potentially expand to include other types of crime.

History

The Restorative Justice Taskforce developed after a group of persons gathered in response to the Community and Restorative Justice Conference held in Corvallis in October, 2000. The group decided that it would be worthwhile to encourage Benton County to become more restorative in its responses to crime. The group invited nationally recognized restorative justice advocate, Dennis Maloney, to speak to the Willamette Criminal Justice Council in February, 2001. Out of that meeting, the Restorative Justice Taskforce was developed including a wide array of community members and criminal justice representatives.

Members

Representatives from the Juvenile Department, District Attorney's office, Corrections, Judicial and interested community persons.

Related Links

• Restorative Justice Sites:
  • Center for Restorative Justice Peacemaking: University of Minnesota (Mark Umbreit)
  • Conflict Transformation Program, Eastern Mennonite University (Howard Zehr)
  • Restorative Justice Project Fresno Pacific University (Ron Claassen)
• Victim Offender Mediation Sites:
  • Victim Offender Mediation Association
  • Victim-Offender Reconciliation Program Information Resource Center
  • Fresno Victim Offender Reconciliation Program
• Victim Services Sites:
  • National Organization for Victim Assistance (NOVA)
  • Office for Victims of Crime
  • National Victim Center
  • Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD)
• Offender Services Sites:
  • American Probation Parole Association
  • American Bar Association