TRRJ Partners with Rochester Police

On April 11, 2022, the Rochester Police Department and Three Rivers Restorative Justice (TRRJ) signed an agreement to implement a Restorative Justice program. It will be a new tool for officers when those harmed by crime are asking for answers about what happened, possible reparations, or help in moving past the trauma experienced.

TRRJ is a group of volunteer community members who have been trained through the U of MN Center for Restorative Justice and Peacemaking to facilitate Restorative Group Conferences. Since September 2021, TRRJ has been collaborating with justice system partners in Dodge, Fillmore, and Olmsted Counties to give people harmed by crime a safe space in which they can ask the person who harmed them for answers, understanding, reparations, and more. In turn, the person who caused harm is given the opportunity to accept responsibility for the ripple effect of the harm they caused, show their remorse by taking steps to repair the harm, and rectify the issues that led to their poor choices.

The Rochester Police Department, like many police departments in communities across Minnesota, is finding that some cases require a community-based resolution to best achieve several goals: meeting the victim's needs, motivating the person who caused harm to desist and develop empathy, and creating safe neighborhoods. Three Rivers Restorative Justice volunteers speak of regularly seeing crime victims come away from the restorative conference with a sense of relief and questions answered. Almost unanimously, they say they would recommend restorative justice to others who have been harmed by crime. National studies show that there is a 7-18% lower rate of re-offending among those who go through this process, and that the cost is 75% less than the court system.