BELFAST, Maine — A decade ago, when Jeff Trafton was the new police chief for the city of Belfast, he was pretty dubious about a plan some people in town proposed to provide a different kind of justice to wrongdoers.
They wanted to bring the idea of restorative justice to the area, with a focus on rehabilitation and reconciliation, and many in local law enforcement at that time thought the whole notion sounded like a waste of time by do-gooders.
“I didn’t really understand how [restorative justice] could help us with law enforcement,” Trafton, now the Waldo County Sheriff, said this week, adding that his views have shifted radically. “Their ideas have real merit — and they help us.”
Since its small, hopeful beginning, the Restorative Justice Project of the Midcoast has grown and expanded. Now, seven part-and-full time employees and about 100 active volunteers work to provide mentorship and restorative justice services for adult and juvenile offenders in Knox, Waldo, Lincoln and Sagadahoc counties. Those services include the restorative justice circles in which community members hold the offenders sitting with them accountable for the harm they have done. They also include finding and training mentors who help men about to be released from the state prison system to be better prepared to return to life outside the prison gates.
According to Trafton, volunteers from the Belfast-based nonprofit have done important work at the Maine Coastal Re-Entry Center. That is the residential re-entry program that opened at the former Waldo County Jail in 2010 with a goal of reducing the very high recidivism rate for convicted offenders. Restorative Justice mentors at the center help the offenders accept responsibility for their actions and encourage them to break old patterns. They also help the residents with job applications, social service appointments, getting drivers licenses back, and finding housing and food resources.
It really does help, Trafton said, adding that among people coming out of the state prison system, there is a 70 to 75 percent chance that they’ll be back behind bars within three years. A study released earlier this year by the Waldo County Sheriff’s Office shows much more promising data from the re-entry center — the recidivism rate among the guys who have successfully gone through the program there is just 31 percent.
“Restorative Justice is an important part of our program,” Trafton said. “I really, truly believe that without the mentors, a lot more of our re-entry residents would fail.”
Larraine Brown, the program’s executive director, said that work has significantly decreased recidivism, healed the harm done to victims and transformed lives. As the group celebrates its 10th anniversary, members have been glad to see the concept spread around the state. She said they also continue to struggle with finding enough resources to train more experienced facilitators, which she said is a very worthwhile endeavor.
“Restorative justice is a global movement that has grown locally because it represents values that Mainers hold dear,” she said. “It’s effective, tough-minded and tender-hearted. It helps people get back on track, gets the job done and saves taxpayers money.”