Restorative Justice Evaluation Tool
The Restorative
Justice Evaluation Tool™ is part of a pilot program
funded by the Bush Foundation and sponsored by the Center
for Neighborhoods in conjunction with the Victim Offender
Mediation Association and the Center for Policy, Planning,
and Performance. This tool represents a new way to capture,
compile, and analyze restorative justice (RJ) case data. It
is designed and authored by the Center for Policy,
Planning, and Performance, based on the original work of
Steven Mayer, Ph.D. of the Effective Communities Project.
(Information on how to access this tool appears at the
bottom of this page.)
Who may use this tool?
Any nonprofit or governmental agency which
administers or provides restorative justice mediation is
eligible to use this tool.
What is the purpose of this tool?
The Restorative Justice Evaluation Tool is designed
to enable mediators (and the organizations they represent)
to determine the nature and scope of their cases and to
assess their success against defined and measurable
outcomes.
What does the tool consist of and how does it
work?
The RJ Eval Tool consists of multiple surveys,
(presented sequentially online or in individual PDF files
which can be printed on hard copy), each of which tracks
and organizes data for one party to the RJ mediation
process. The parties supported by this tool include the
victim, offender, their supporters or advocates,
representatives of the community and government, and the RJ
program administrators themselves. Each survey is broken
down further into sections in which the participants are
asked their assessment of the fairness and outcome of this
process as well as the attitudes it inspires.
The individual surveys are printed on hard copy and
distributed to each participant in an RJ mediation. The
participants fill out their portion of the surveys after
which an RJ administrator collects them. The aggregate case
data is then entered online where it can be compiled and
analyzed.
Can this tool be used for all kinds of RJ
cases?
At present this tool does not support cases with
multiple victims and offenders, nor does it allow for
institutional victims such as churches, schools,
cemeteries, etc, which may be subject to theft, vandalism,
arson, or other offense. It likewise does not allow for
institutional offenders, such as churches, hate groups, or
private militias. This tool also does not support offenses
which qualify as terroristic threats or outright acts of
terrorism, (though it does allow for an RJ process for hate
crimes). These and other features may be implemented in
phase two of this program.
Does this tool collect data not only about the case
but about participants themselves?
Yes. This RJ evaluation tool seeks to be
non-discriminatory and respectful of the culture and
ethnicity of its participants. Accordingly, some of the
surveys include demographic questions which will help us
measure and diagnose the extent to which everyone involved
is treated fairly and without regard to race, gender, age,
or other possible source of unintended bias. It will help
us learn also whether any such characteristics tend to
inform the perception (or buy-in) of the participants in
the RJ process. (For purposes of this tool, race
definitions are but social terms in no way based on
biology, anthropology, or genetics.)
Is this tool available in multiple
languages?
At present, this tool is available only in English.
But in order that the surveys can be understood by people
from multiple cultures, including those for whom English is
a second language, the questions for the victim and
offender have been revised to meet the sixth-grade reading
level as defined by the Flesch-Kincaid standard. As a
result, it's important to use this exact phrasing during
the intake and interview process so we can safeguard the
integrity of this RJ tool and have faith in its findings
and analysis.
Does the RJ tool safeguard the confidentiality of
the case data?
While this tool does not capture the names of the
participants in each case, if you administer this RJ
process at the behest of a state department, then the data
practices laws of that jurisdiction will apply. For
example, any data captured in Minnesota may be subject to
the "Minnesota Data Practices Act."
In addition, data from multiple RJ programs throughout
North America and elsewhere may be compiled and published
in the aggregate (for analysis), but individual case data
will be made available only to the RJ program that has
oversight of it. Additionally, no contact data of your
organization will be published or distributed without your
prior consent.
How may I use this tool? May I distribute it to
other organizations?
This tool (including the full suite of surveys) is
designed for your use only (as an organization which
administers or runs a restorative justice program). For
your cases you may use the entire tool or any subset
thereof (as applies to your needs); but you may not
otherwise modify it, publish it, or distribute it to
parties or organizations other than the participants in the
RJ mediation cases over which you preside without the
consent of the Center for Policy, Planning, and Performance
which is the copyright holder. If you know of other RJ
programs which may wish to make use of this tool, we
encourage you to refer us to them.
May I offer suggestions for improvements of this
tool?
Of course. To offer feedback on the ways this tool
can be improved, as well as to ask questions regarding its
format or content or to report any technical problem with
the online implementation, e-mail the Center for Policy,
Planning, and Performance at rjsurvey@effective.org. We
welcome your comments.
How can I obtain a copy of the tool for review or
actual use?
We provide an online demo of this tool and also a
suite of PDF files which allows each individual survey to
be printed and distributed to the participants in each
mediation. You can access both on the link below:
Accessing the RJ Eval Tool
For more information, or to arrange to use this tool in
production for real mediation cases, contact Russ Reetz at
612-874-0535 or at rjsurvey@effective.org. Russ will set up
an online tool dedicated for your organization.
This tool is copyright © 2003-2006 by the Center for
Policy, Planning, and Performance. All rights reserved.