Restorative Justice
LESM-Restorative Justice offers services to family members whose lives have been impacted by incarceration; both the members who are incarcerated and their free world loved ones. The current services are provided through four programs - MCT, JUMP, Storybook and Double Time.
Families receiving services from Restorative Justice face the challenges of being separated from one another without their normal support structures. The negative weight of public perception of the convicted can be attached to the free world loved ones as well.
The whole family suffers when loved ones are incarcerated.
- The free world adults bear the full family financial responsibility in the absence of contributions from their incarcerated loved ones. They also have most of the daily living responsibilities. The loved one in prison can offer emotional support, but the free world adults must pay for the telephone communication and visitation to accomplish this.
- Statistics show that children with incarcerated parents face increased educational, social, and emotional challenges in comparison with children who do not have parents in prison.
- The incarcerated members, committed to family, face the daily frustration of not being able to easily contribute in normal ways to family life. Their contributions are dependent on free world loved ones.
Restorative Justice is a theory of criminal justice which is focused on crimes as an act against individuals and communities rather than the state. Dialog between the offenders and the victims are crucial to restorative justice. Those persons who have been convicted take responsibility for their actions and the persons who have been harmed may take a central role in the process. Our goal is to facilitate the mending process.
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