A DC official employed restorative justice to prevent young offenders from serving time in jail for stabbings and hate crimes.

The Washington, D.C. attorney general's office implemented a program based on an "ancient indigenous practice" to allow some young criminals who committed stabbings and hate crimes to avoid jail time, boasted a government bureaucrat.

In 2015, Seema Gajwani was appointed as special counsel for Juvenile Justice Reform by the D.C. attorney general. Gajwani implemented a restorative justice program in 2017, which aimed to address racial disparities in the criminal justice system. Restorative justice focuses on the rehabilitation of the offender by seeking reconciliation with the victims. One common practice is a conversation between the offender and the victim, if the victim agrees.

The D.C. office's program, which utilizes restorative justice for several hundred cases, does not include youth who have committed homicide, sexual assault, or domestic violence in its program.

"Gajwani stated during a 2021 webinar that her work as the program's chief has been successful in using restorative justice in stabbing cases, carjackings, and burglaries, instead of traditional prosecution. The focus is on serious violent crime."

"Our restorative justice program now handles cases involving robberies, gun offenses, and serious assaults," she stated.

Since the program's introduction, carjackings increased from 148 in 2018 to 958 in 2023, while burglaries, hate crimes, and assaults with a deadly weapon decreased, according to Metropolitan Police data. The figures cover crimes committed by both adults and juveniles.

Gajwani served as the program leader until approximately 2023 and is currently the executive director at Maryland's Juvenile Services, where she oversees a $5 million budget for funding nonprofits that address crime, as outlined in the state's strategic plan.

Gajwani pointed out that her program, under former D.C. attorney general Karl Racine, kept juvenile offenders who targeted LGBTQ individuals out of prison. The restorative justice program is still operational under AG Brian Schwalb, who took office in 2023. Schwalb believes that restorative justice is the way forward for public safety.

"Gajwani stated during a 2022 Department of Justice webinar that they handle hate crimes and have witnessed several instances of bias-motivated violence targeting individuals based on their sexual orientation or race/ethnicity."

In 2019, a transgender woman was subjected to verbal abuse, spat upon, and physically assaulted.

In the same year, Gajwani received a fellowship from the Obama Foundation for her successful restorative justice program, which was utilized in cases of serious crime.

The Obama Foundation reports that Seema launched the first restorative justice program in a prosecutor's office, where restorative justice facilitators bring together young offenders and willing victims to discuss the impact of the crime and work towards resolving the matter.

In the 2021 webinar, Gajwani stated that there was a peculiar circumstance in D.C. where the majority of youngsters detained for offenses were children of color.

"The system does not have any White kids, and restorative justice is a way to hold people accountable for committing crimes while being antiracist."

The speaker stated that their goal is to ensure public safety while also addressing systemic racism in the justice system. They believe that the ongoing conversation about restorative justice, specifically for hate crimes and criminal justice in general, is hopeful.

The D.C. attorney general's office and Maryland's juvenile wing were contacted by Planet Chronicle Digital for comment on Schwalb's office's use of restorative justice. It was stated that their office doesn't automatically employ restorative justice for all cases.

In 2018, Schwalb stated on his Facebook account that he believed in restorative justice and saw it as a way to improve public safety.

Restorative justice is about recognizing that people who have committed wrongdoings are not solely defined by their worst actions. It involves creating a community of acceptance, apology, and healing, where individuals can reconcile and move forward.

Gajwani believes that restorative justice will inspire empathy in the assailant committing acts of hate, despite not responding to a comment request.

"Gajwani stated in the 2022 DOJ webinar that the adversarial system is not well suited for addressing the nuances and long-term public safety that we believe we are achieving. Restorative justice, an ancient indigenous practice, brings together the people affected by harm to address what happened, how everyone was impacted, and what needs to be done to make things right."

The effectiveness of restorative justice in reducing recidivism is "highly" varied, according to a 2017 systemic overview commissioned by the DOJ.

The DOJ overview revealed that more stringent research had "reduced" the effectiveness of diversion tactics.

The study suggests that some restorative justice programs may decrease future youth delinquency and improve victim satisfaction with the outcome. However, the reliability of these findings is uncertain; more rigorous evaluations are necessary to confirm the positive effects observed.