It’s no wonder the majority of Americans believe the criminal justice system is broken: The U.S. has the highest incarceration rate in the world, along with sweeping issues of inequality and inhumane treatment, both for prisoners and for those recently released. The U.S. system is largely based on retribution, rather than reconciliation — and more than 90% of Americans support reform.
There’s little evidence that such a harshly punitive system does anything to rehabilitate offenders. Instead, it rips apart families, keeps people from voting, increases a person’s risk of being unhoused and can cost some individuals their lives or their sanity.
Moreover, nearly 70% of imprisoned people re-offend within three years of their release, according to a 2018 report by the U.S. Department of Justice.
The system also makes plenty of mistakes. Since 1989, the National Registry of Exonerations, by the Newkirk Center for Science & Society at the University of California Irvine, the University of Michigan Law School and the Michigan State University College of Law, has recorded an astounding 3,344 exonerations of formerly incarcerated people — pointing to a collective 29,500 years that people spent wrongfully imprisoned. Most of the exonerated folks were Black, reflecting the makeup of the incarcerated population as a whole.
For some abolitionists and other people invested in the issue, there’s a more responsible alternative to the current punitive approach: restorative justice.
There are no easy answers to the deep-rooted problems at play — but increasingly, prison reform advocates and local governments are turning to restorative justice as an alternative to incarceration.
In a recent case, photojournalist Teri Jacobs chose to pursue a restorative justice response with Portland police Officer Corey Budworth, who assaulted her with his baton while she was working at a protest in the summer of 2020.
The restorative justice process involved Budworth issuing a public video apology to Jacobs. In exchange, the officer’s charge was dropped.
“During my reflection of the evening, the force used against Ms. Jacobs could have been avoided, and I’m sorry, Ms. Jacobs,” Budworth said in a video posted to the Oregon Justice Resource Center Twitter page.
He added: “I understand the harm that was caused was not limited to Ms. Jacobs, and was felt by others in the community when there was a great distrust of law enforcement.”
Jacobs’ story sheds light on the process and what it can offer others, especially people from marginalized communities, seeking justice and an alternative to prisons.
“I did this with this white police officer because of the impact that restorative justice could have for the most marginalized people, the people that are incarcerated and the huge number of Black and brown people that are put into the system for minor charges,” Jacobs told me.
“I did this process hoping that, though it might not be so easy to hire a lawyer or to get out of the charge brought against you, doing restorative justice could prevent people from being a part of the system — especially Black and brown young men,” she added.
See my conversation with Jacobs about restorative justice and Budworth’s apology video below. (Hat tip to senior reporter Jessica Schulberg, my wonderful colleague who brought the story to my attention.) | 
