Restorative Discipline as an Alternate to Retributive Discipline within the Juvenile Court System: An Analysis of the Metro County Juvenile Court Community Restorative Board

ABSTRACT RESTORATIVE DISCIPLINE AS AN ALTERNATE TO RETRIBUTIVE DISCIPLINE WITHIN THE JUVENILE COURT SYSTEM: AN ANALYSIS OF THE METRO COUNTY JUVENILE COURT COMMUNITY RESTORATIVE BOARD by Ajamu A. Banjoko Giroux (2003) indicated that the prison industry has become a major economic industry with many states spending more money on prison reforms than on educational reforms. Juvenile delinquent behavior should be punished but fair treatment and equal rights for all human beings under the rule of law is paramount to punishment. Casella (2001) indicated that the prison population has sky-rocketed, and by 1995 forty-eight states passed laws to facilitate the prosecution of juveniles as adults and therefore children are placed in adult prisons where they are at a higher risk of not only attack and rape, but of suicide. The research established a rationale for restorative justice discipline as an alternate to punitive retributive discipline in order to potentially decrease the number of youth offenders facing incarceration. Crime control is the responsibility of all citizens not just the government and this responsibility reflects the foundational tenets of restorative justice. Bazemore and Umbreit (1995) suggested that restorative justice is not an alternative to punishment it is an alternate punishment to bad or unwanted behavior. A qualitative case study was used to analyze and explore the disciplinary functions and procedures of the Metro County Juvenile Court Community Restorative Boards. The perceptions of two board members and three juvenile court officials was analyzed in an effort to better understand how and why Community Restorative Boards implement restorative justice discipline toward youth offenders. Data were gathered through narrative interviews and participatory observations in order to better understand the emerging phenomenon of restorative discipline within the juvenile justice system as an alternate to punitive retributive discipline. The study analyzed the dynamics of the school to prison pipeline through zero tolerance school policies, examined the juvenile justice system and the sentencing of youth offenders in criminal court. The study also examined the usage of traditional retributive discipline and restorative discipline within the juvenile court system. The study provided empirical data that support the infusion of a complimentary or supplementary restorative justice disciplinary approach toward adjudicating youth offenders within the juvenile court system. Bazemore and Umbreit (1995) suggested that utilizing a restorative justice disciplinary model increases the opportunity for young people to be held accountable for their misbehavior by actively participating in the process of establishing consequences to help repair the harm that they have caused to an individual, the community, and themselves