Victims of Offenses With Unknown or Non-Participating Offenders

Victims of Offenses with Unknown or Non-Participating Offenders

In 2001 Hawai‘i Friends developed, applied and measured the results of a restorative justice process for victims where there are no known offenders (Restorative Justice without Offender Participation: A Pilot Program for Victims http://www.realjustice.org/library/lwalker04.html).

Before Hawai‘i Friends developed this application for victims, it was widely felt that restorative justice is only useful when there is a known offender of a wrongdoing.  Seventy percent of all crime in the United States, however, goes without any offender ever being identified. Hawai‘i Friends’ application of restorative justice for these victims provided healing to many who before were considered unable of benefiting from this approach.