§ 22-32-144 — Restorative justice practices - legislative declaration

(1) The
general assembly hereby finds that:

(a) Conflicts and offenses arising during the school day interrupt learning,
threaten school safety, and often lead to suspensions, expulsions, and an increase
in the likelihood of a student dropping out of school;

(b) Students who drop out of high school face diminished job opportunities,
lower lifetime earnings, and increased unemployment and more often require public
assistance. They are more likely to participate in criminal activity, resulting in
higher incarceration rates, and they face much greater challenges to becoming
productive, contributing members of their communities.

(c) School conflicts can result in offenses that violate school rules and local
laws and damage relationships among members of the school and surrounding
community;

(d) Restorative justice, which requires the offender to accept responsibility
and accountability for his or her actions, teaches conflict resolution, repairs the
harm from the offense, reduces classroom disruptions, suspensions, expulsions,
and consequent dropouts, promotes school safety, and enables victims, offenders,
and community members to rebuild the community and restore relationships; and

(e) The general assembly has a vital interest in reducing classroom
disruptions, suspensions, expulsions, and dropout rates and in assisting victims,
reducing referrals to the justice system, and building safer, more cohesive school
communities to promote learning.

(2) (a) Therefore, the general assembly supports and encourages the use of
restorative justice as a school's first consideration to remediate offenses such as
interpersonal conflicts, bullying, verbal and physical conflicts, theft, damage to
property, class disruption, harassment and internet harassment, and attendance
issues.

(b) The general assembly encourages each school district to implement
training and education in the principles and practices of restorative justice to
ensure that capable personnel and resources are available to successfully facilitate
all steps of the restorative justice process.

(3) For purposes of this section, restorative justice means practices that
emphasize repairing the harm to the victim and the school community caused by a
student's misconduct. Restorative justice practices may include victim-initiated
victim-offender conferences attended voluntarily by the victim, a victim advocate,
the offender, school members, and supporters of the victim and the offender, which
program provides an opportunity for the offender to accept responsibility for the
harm caused to those affected by the act and to participate in setting
consequences to repair the harm. Consequences recommended by the participants
may include, but need not be limited to, apologies, community service, restitution,
restoration, and counseling. The selected consequences shall be incorporated into
an agreement that sets time limits for completion of the consequences and is
signed by all participants.

(4) Each school district is encouraged to develop and utilize restorative
justice practices that are part of the disciplinary program of each school in the
district.

Legislative History

Source: L. 2011: Entire section added, (HB 11-1032), ch. 296, p. 1407, � 17, effective August 10.