Loyola Law Magazine 2024 - A focus on repairing harm
A focus on repairing harm
The Honorable Thomas More Donnelly (JD ’86) believes in restorative justice to help heal both victims and offenders
The Honorable Thomas More Donnelly (JD ’86) has attended many restorative justice peacemaking circles: spaces where offenders, victims, their supporters, law enforcement and court officials, and community members seek to understand what happened and how to address the harms caused. One circle stands out.
The complainant was a police officer whose home had been burgled. He wanted the young person responsible to cover the cost of repairs needed after the break-in.
“In the peacemaking circle, the officer learned this kid had no job and no intact family to support him,” says Donnelly, now a Cook County Circuit Court judge. “The kid wanted to make restitution and pay for the damage he’d done, but he didn’t have a job.” The police officer decided to hire the young man to do work around the house and earn enough to pay for repairs.
“That’s sort of an ideal picture of restorative justice, where everyone’s taking responsibility for one another,” says Donnelly. “That’s what we hope to bring into our justice system: a sense, as Pope Francis says, that we’re all connected.”
Donnelly is a prominent proponent of restorative justice, a set of principles and practices that moves away from the traditional approach to justice as solely punitive. Restorative justice focuses on repairing the harm caused by crime—for victims, survivors, offenders, and the community. Besides peacemaking circles, restorative justice practices may include mediation, conflict resolution programs, family conferences, and community reparation boards.
“Our current, adversarial criminal system doesn’t do much to restore the person who’s been harmed in a crime; they’re simply a witness to their own harm,” Donnelly says. “Restorative justice first assists the person or people who’ve been harmed, next moves to helping the offender make reparations, and then helps the offender become a full, responsible member of the community.”
Cook County operates three Restorative Justice Community Courts aimed at young adults, aged 18–26, who are charged with nonviolent felony or misdemeanor crimes. Yet, Donnelly says, restorative justice can be practiced formally or informally with offenders of all ages. “It can be something as simple as a public defender arranging to get a detained individual’s keys released from the jail, so his girlfriend can move his car and avoid a tow,” he says. “And two judges I know keep a closet of nice clothes they give juvenile defendants to wear for court, so these young people can appear in court with dignity. The judges compliment them on how good they look. Those things are restorative justice, too.”
Championing important legislation
Donnelly recently helped advance restorative justice when he pushed for Illinois Senate Bill 64, which became law in 2021. Concerned that their words might be used against them later in court, many offenders had balked at participating in restorative justice gatherings.
The new law provides that everything said as part of a restorative justice practice is privileged and inadmissible in any civil, criminal, juvenile, or administrative proceeding.
The bill passed with unusual bipartisan support, in part because Donnelly—a Democrat whose work is guided by his Catholic faith and the example of his namesake, St. Thomas More—and other advocates appealed to religious convictions they held in common with evangelical Republican legislators. “The New Testament tells us to try to settle our matters out of court before we reach the judge,” Donnelly says. “As we explained the legislation, it’s not about escaping accountability; it’s a way of becoming fully accountable.”
GOP legislators, he says, “became convinced that it was consonant with their religious and social values. Bridging that gap was really hopeful for me.”
1. Donnelly speaks at a public event sponsored by the Catholic Criminal Justice Reform Network, an initiative of the Lumen Christi Institute, aimed at fostering a conversation around restorative justice. 2. Attendees included prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges, corrections officers, legal experts, and law enforcement officials, as well as victims of crime and their families. 3. Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich was part of the panel and celebrated a Mass preceding the conversation. Photos: Lumen Christi/Travis Haughton.
Commitment to restoring dignity
Donnelly has followed the threads of restorative justice throughout his career—even before he was familiar with the term. As a young public defender, he was strongly influenced by a mentor who told him to visit the homes of his clients to understand the challenges they faced.
Early in his career, he was devastated when a particular client was found guilty. “I came into the lockup after the verdict, and I was crying,” he remembers. “My client wrapped me in her arms. I said, ‘But we lost,’ and she said, ‘No, we didn’t, because no one has ever fought for me as hard as you did today.’
“It struck me then that this was my role,” Donnelly says. “The purpose of fighting for people’s rights is to restore lost humanity, dignity, and sense of identity. For offenders, that comes with degrading treatment from law enforcement and incarceration. And with those harmed, often no one—from police officer to state’s attorney to judge—has talked to them about what’s happened. Even when the defendant receives harsh punishment, they’re just left with their lives in shambles. That compounds the original injury.”
Did you know?
Forty-five states have enacted laws supporting restorative justice, and 35 states have implemented it directly into the formal youth justice system.
Source: 2022 National Conference of State Legislatures report
A restorative justice mindset
Today, Donnelly brings his restorative justice mindset to multiple projects, including serving on an Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Pretrial Practices. His work on an Illinois Supreme Court statutory task force helped standardize criminal and civil court fees with a waiver for indigent defendants. He also championed a law that gives consumers transparency and protections from debt buyers, shortening the collection period and reducing maximum interest rates.
In his work on the bench, Donnelly finds restorative justice as valuable in the civil cases he hears as in the criminal cases he used to defend. “In commercial cases, in settlement conferences, people are also hurting and in need of healing,” he says. “A lot of is just listening—really listening.”
Donnelly is a fan of the work of Yale University law and psychology professor Tom R. Tyler, whose research shows that when judges and law enforcement show citizens respect, give them voice, and demonstrate trustworthiness and neutrality, people are much less likely to commit crimes.
Donnelly says, “I see all those things as restorative justice practices. We’re all accountable for what we do, but we can’t ever efface the dignity with which we’re imprinted.” –Gail Mansfield (July 2024)
Restorative justice yields benefits for all parties
A growing body of research demonstrates that restorative justice, inspired by Indigenous beliefs in relationships as the foundation for community well-being, produces multiple benefits for victims, offenders, and the community.
The Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts and Chicago Council of Lawyers recently studied the Cook County Restorative Justice Community Courts and found that a year after release, 13.1 percent of participants were charged with a new offense, compared with 65.2 percent of a matched control group.
The U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance says that “restorative justice reduces recidivism, increases victims’ satisfaction with the justice process, and reduces the psychological trauma of crime.” The bureau has made increasing access to restorative justice a priority.
A 2021 Department of Justice review of studies from the U.S. and abroad found that, while results depend on the offense category and the type of restorative justice program, “Overall, youths who participate in restorative justice programs are less likely to reoffend, compared with youths who are processed in the juvenile justice system.” In addition, compared with those not exposed to restorative justice, “youth who participate in restorative justice programs are more likely to express satisfaction with how their cases were handled, accept responsibility for their actions, and complete restitution agreements.”
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Read the story“In the peacemaking circle, the officer learned this kid had no job and no intact family to support him,” says Donnelly, now a Cook County Circuit Court judge. “The kid wanted to make restitution and pay for the damage he’d done, but he didn’t have a job.” The police officer decided to hire the young man to do work around the house and earn enough to pay for repairs.
“That’s sort of an ideal picture of restorative justice, where everyone’s taking responsibility for one another,” says Donnelly. “That’s what we hope to bring into our justice system: a sense, as Pope Francis says, that we’re all connected.”
Donnelly is a prominent proponent of restorative justice, a set of principles and practices that moves away from the traditional approach to justice as solely punitive. Restorative justice focuses on repairing the harm caused by crime—for victims, survivors, offenders, and the community. Besides peacemaking circles, restorative justice practices may include mediation, conflict resolution programs, family conferences, and community reparation boards.
“Our current, adversarial criminal system doesn’t do much to restore the person who’s been harmed in a crime; they’re simply a witness to their own harm,” Donnelly says. “Restorative justice first assists the person or people who’ve been harmed, next moves to helping the offender make reparations, and then helps the offender become a full, responsible member of the community.”
Cook County operates three Restorative Justice Community Courts aimed at young adults, aged 18–26, who are charged with nonviolent felony or misdemeanor crimes. Yet, Donnelly says, restorative justice can be practiced formally or informally with offenders of all ages. “It can be something as simple as a public defender arranging to get a detained individual’s keys released from the jail, so his girlfriend can move his car and avoid a tow,” he says. “And two judges I know keep a closet of nice clothes they give juvenile defendants to wear for court, so these young people can appear in court with dignity. The judges compliment them on how good they look. Those things are restorative justice, too.”
Championing important legislation
Donnelly recently helped advance restorative justice when he pushed for Illinois Senate Bill 64, which became law in 2021. Concerned that their words might be used against them later in court, many offenders had balked at participating in restorative justice gatherings.
The new law provides that everything said as part of a restorative justice practice is privileged and inadmissible in any civil, criminal, juvenile, or administrative proceeding.
The bill passed with unusual bipartisan support, in part because Donnelly—a Democrat whose work is guided by his Catholic faith and the example of his namesake, St. Thomas More—and other advocates appealed to religious convictions they held in common with evangelical Republican legislators. “The New Testament tells us to try to settle our matters out of court before we reach the judge,” Donnelly says. “As we explained the legislation, it’s not about escaping accountability; it’s a way of becoming fully accountable.”
GOP legislators, he says, “became convinced that it was consonant with their religious and social values. Bridging that gap was really hopeful for me.”
Commitment to restoring dignity
Donnelly has followed the threads of restorative justice throughout his career—even before he was familiar with the term. As a young public defender, he was strongly influenced by a mentor who told him to visit the homes of his clients to understand the challenges they faced.
Early in his career, he was devastated when a particular client was found guilty. “I came into the lockup after the verdict, and I was crying,” he remembers. “My client wrapped me in her arms. I said, ‘But we lost,’ and she said, ‘No, we didn’t, because no one has ever fought for me as hard as you did today.’
“It struck me then that this was my role,” Donnelly says. “The purpose of fighting for people’s rights is to restore lost humanity, dignity, and sense of identity. For offenders, that comes with degrading treatment from law enforcement and incarceration. And with those harmed, often no one—from police officer to state’s attorney to judge—has talked to them about what’s happened. Even when the defendant receives harsh punishment, they’re just left with their lives in shambles. That compounds the original injury.”
A restorative justice mindset
Today, Donnelly brings his restorative justice mindset to multiple projects, including serving on an Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Pretrial Practices. His work on an Illinois Supreme Court statutory task force helped standardize criminal and civil court fees with a waiver for indigent defendants. He also championed a law that gives consumers transparency and protections from debt buyers, shortening the collection period and reducing maximum interest rates.
In his work on the bench, Donnelly finds restorative justice as valuable in the civil cases he hears as in the criminal cases he used to defend. “In commercial cases, in settlement conferences, people are also hurting and in need of healing,” he says. “A lot of is just listening—really listening.”
Donnelly is a fan of the work of Yale University law and psychology professor Tom R. Tyler, whose research shows that when judges and law enforcement show citizens respect, give them voice, and demonstrate trustworthiness and neutrality, people are much less likely to commit crimes.
Donnelly says, “I see all those things as restorative justice practices. We’re all accountable for what we do, but we can’t ever efface the dignity with which we’re imprinted.” –Gail Mansfield (July 2024)