BARJ

The Balanced and Restorative Justice (BARJ) Committee




Balanced and Restorative Justice (BARJ) is a philosophy and alternative perspective to juvenile justice. The BARJ response to crime is a balanced approach, giving equal consideration to the victims, offenders and the community.




The main principle of BARJ is that crime is a harm, not just to the state, but to victims and the community. Crime creates an injury or tear in the relationship between the victim and offender. If a relationship did not exist before the crime, the offense created a negative relationship between all the participants. Crime creates an injury to the community in which it occurs. This balanced approach provides the victim and community an opportunity to hold the offender accountable and to help decide how to repair the harm that was created by the offender.




The balanced approach has three main goals. First, to hold the offenders accountable to the victims and the harm they caused. Second, to have the offender leave the system more competent to function within the community than when he/she entered the system. Third, to promote public safety by the involvement of the community. The community should be responsible for the well being of its members and should allow the offender to repair the harm and make reparations.



 
The BARJ Committee had the responsibility of working on issues around victim services, community BARJ training, civic engagement and issues of gender differences and overrepresentation of minorities in the juvenile justice system.  



This committee established several subcommittees with specific agendas to accomplish our goals.



These Sub-Committees were:





Quarterly Reports to the Steering Committee







BARJ Committee Chair: Cheryl Beck - Monroe County Court System


			


			








 






			

Questions can be directed to Sandie Pierce at pierce_sandie@yahoo.com • 216 N. Monroe Street • Monroe, MI 48162