Restorative Justice Program

• Being heard and sharing impacts directly with the person who caused the harm
• Asking questions and receiving answers about what happened and why
• Seeing the person take responsibility
• Agreement input for meaningful repair
• Choice and empowerment
• Increased feelings of safety

• “It was an opportunity to heal and put the events behind us.”
• “Greater sense of closure.”
• “I feel less anger hearing the offender’s words in trying to learn from this experience and how they plan on not doing the same to someone else.”
• “This was very healing. I didn’t think I had been impacted, but after sharing I not only recognize that I was, but I feel better about it.”
• “This experience helped me understand the situation more. I’m satisfied with the answers I got from my questions.”
• “I see humanity and feel more safe.”
• “It makes me feel confident that the person responsible for causing harm will make better decisions.”
• “I have more clarity of the incident and why the incident took place, and how the person could have handled it differently.”
• “I feel much better having heard the offender take responsibility for their actions.”
• “I think this model of justice is hopeful and helpful to all involved.”
• “I felt it was good bringing everyone together to be heard to help fill in the missing pieces of unanswered questions.”
• “Thanks for your sensitivity, thoughtfulness, and patience. I’m very grateful this option is available.”

• Showing accountability and remorse
• Showing that they are more than their harmful choice
• Inclusion and respect
• Transformation of shame
• Agreement input for meaningful repair
• Rebuilding of trust and reputation
• Reintegration

• “This process was life-changing for my son and our family.”
• “I believe [I was able to repair the harm] at least in some part, since the victim was unsure if I had any remorse for what I did, and when I spoke to her during RJ, I made sure to let her know that I immensely regretted my actions. To the extent of what I can do for now, I have tried my best to repair what has been damaged.”
• “Restorative Justice was a very beneficial portion of diversion as it gave me an opportunity to understand the effects of my actions on others and understanding how I can do differently in the future.”
• “It definitely made me face my actions and confront them head on.”
• “I was able to express my remorse, and hopefully some of my volunteer work has given back.”
• “Restorative justice was an amazing opportunity to see how, despite the pain and difficulty I caused in the Boulder community, there are things I can do to make up for my mistakes. It taught me how to provide aid to those I’ve impacted and how to use this as an opportunity to grow.”
• “While we were in the process I learned much more about the community and how [I] negatively affected them and how to correct my harm that I caused… I [started] the process thinking I didn’t have much more to learn and I came out of the process learning so much.”
• “My experience was very helpful for me personally and the victim. It helped me to have closure in the situation.”
• “It was great to have people hear me out and know my story too where I wasn’t just a source of harm but a human too.”
• “RJ was intense and I did not realize the extent of the emotional harm until that meeting.”
• “It was eye opening for sure.”

The Boulder DA’s Office regularly offers the RJ trainings listed below and provides other specialized RJ trainings on request. For more information about restorative justice training, contact Denise Lord (dlord@bouldercounty.gov), RJ Program Coordinator.

RJ Facilitator Training

This is an 18-hour virtual training that is typically offered once or twice per year. The Boulder DA’s RJ Facilitator training meets standards of the Colorado Restorative Justice Facilitator Guidelines. The 4-hour RJ Community Member training is a pre-requisite for this training. Visit our RJ Facilitator web form for more information and to apply for the training.

RJ Community Member Training

This is a 4-hour virtual training offered several times throughout the year. This training is a pre-requisite for our RJ Facilitator Training.

For more information about training and consultation on diversion and RJ program implementation, contact Erin Siffing (esiffing@bouldercounty.gov), Deputy Director of Diversion and Restorative Justice.

If you need to pay a training fee, please visit Colorado PayPort Online Service site, then select Service Type: Diversion, Fee Type: Training, Case Type: Volunteer/Training.