Criminal Justice & Public Safety

Restorative justice is a response to criminal behavior that focuses on lawbreaker restitution and the resolution of the issues arising from a crime in which victims, offenders, and the community are brought together to restore the harmony between the parties. Restorative justice includes direct mediation and conflict resolution between the offender, the victims, their families, and the community. It holds the offender accountable to the other parties while also providing the offender with learning experiences that offer law-abiding lifestyles as realistic alternatives to criminality.

Retributive justice is a response to criminal behavior that focuses on the punishment of lawbreakers and the compensation of victims. In general, the severity of the punishment is proportionate to the seriousness of the crime.

This course also provides a critical assessment of the benefits and limitations of restorative justice.

KCRJ was founded to build a dynamic and innovative social and restorative justice center to provide legal support for criminal and civil cases and to provide conflict resolution services for communities, schools, and the justice system.

Promotes effective forms of justice that are safe, just, equitable, sustainable, reparative and socially constructive, addressing not only crime, but conflict, incivility, injustice and all forms of harm.