Cohort 2024
Communities for Restorative Justice
Expanding Access to Restorative Justice through Technology
Boston, MA
A 2020 report (PDF) from Harvard Law School found that in Massachusetts, Black and Latino people were incarcerated at 7.9 times and 4.9 times the rate of white people, respectively; more likely to receive longer sentences; and less likely to have their cases resolved through less severe sentences. To address racial and ethnic disparities in the criminal legal system, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts established the Supreme Judicial Court Committee on Restorative Justice to develop, implement, and oversee pilot programs to incorporate restorative justice practices in select criminal cases as an alternative resolution for certain district court criminal charges. Unlike traditional approaches, restorative justice views criminal acts as violations of people and relationships, rather than just rules or statutes. Advocates for restorative justice propose that diversion from the criminal legal system can disrupt cycles of incarceration in communities of color, offers a departure from the dehumanization people experience in courtroom settings, and centers the voices of the people most affected by an incident.
With a restorative approach informed by these programs and Catalyst Grant funding, Communities for Restorative Justice (C4RJ) will implement a new system for reviewing referrals for restorative justice at the Lowell District Court. The new system will build on the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office’s decade-long relationship with C4RJ. The project will rely on C4RJ’s 24-year-old restorative justice model but will allow for a more equitable referral process by generating a case list based on objective criteria, rather than subjective review. Through this equity lens, restorative justice will be offered to resolve criminal cases for some of the most marginalized people in the Lowell community, ensuring justice is administered equally and fairly.
