Vermont Bar Journal, Vol. 40, No. 2 Winter 2014, Vol. 39, No. 4 | Page 25

It Is Time to Take Restorative Justice Seriously In light of Vermont’s unhealthy reliance on plea bargaining justice, it is time to take restorative justice seriously. The legislature could approach restorative justice as if there never were a statute passed without debate. It could research and debate the merits of restorative justice processes and their results and compare them to the effects of plea bargaining. Restorative justice does not threaten in any way the justice ordained as a constitutional right for all U.S. citizens. It cannot replace the trial for the defendant who maintains his innocence. It can be implemented, however, to free us gradually from the scourge of pleabargaining. Again, how many felony defendants on average in Vermont could be viable participants for a restorative justice resolution? Nothing prevents restorative justice agreements from being even more onerous for defendants than plea bargain sentences. Certainly many victims of crimes will want t