Our Three Branches
All branches are separate in their work but united in their mission.
For many years, due to legitimate privacy concerns, the work of supporting and advocating for crime victims has largely been done behind the scenes. This trend, however, brought with it the collateral consequence of shrouding available services from public view. But how can those harmed by crime access services that they are not made aware of from the start? When they need it most?
RJWA's answer is to create an easy-to-use, statewide information HUB for crime victims to access and utilize. Our HUB will empower those who have suffered harm with immediate information regarding the orgs, resources, and support services that are available in their county. Rather than have to search and scour the internet during a time of emotional turmoil, survivors will only need to access our website and make a few simple clicks.
Beyond just providing information, RJWA is working to increase opportunities for community-based advocacy in counties across the state. Expanding these services, in our eyes, has to be a top priority if we want to understand and meet the needs of crime survivors. Our organization's goal is to expand our advocacy network so broadly that RJ practices, healing efforts, and harm reduction strategies become commonplace rather than outliers in WA state.
The RJWA information HUB will open the door for a more robust and multi-layered response from local communities, and our advocacy network will ensure that survivors' needs are being met and that their rights are being protected. No longer left on the sidelines, with only one path in sight, crime victims will have the option of connecting with the broad-based support that RJWA affiliates and programs work to provide.
After sentencing, offenders are remanded to county jails or the Department of Corrections (DOC) for the length of the sentence they have been ordered to serve. Currently, time spent in custody acts as the only measure of accountability for offenders. This antiquated policy and practice--of measuring accountability in months and days--often overlooks the actual harms that crime victims have suffered. In a nutshell, incarceration punishes offenders but offers little to those they have harmed.
RJWA is seeking to address this oversight by bringing programs into jails and DOC facilities which offer opportunities for offenders to learn about RJ, contemplate the harm they've caused, take ownership, and do something transformative with their time. Rather than a single program or offering, RJWA partners with victim advocacy orgs, survivors, colleges, sheriffs, prosecutors, and concerned community members to bring a host of restorative practices into jails and prisons across WA state.
Our collaborative approach stems from the idea that "public safety is a community endeavor." Our strategic partnerships arose out of the acknowledgement that many folks on the outside want to play a role in ensuring that those who have caused harm aren't just "doing their time" and then walking right back out into our communities.
By putting the RJ philosophy into practice, we are providing those who have caused harm with an opportunity to truly recognize and take ownership for the harms they have caused. And while the primary participants in the RJWA prison program platform are offenders, the results of our increased accountability programs continues to serve victims, survivors, and the community at large.
RJWA is a collaborative organization which is comprised of partnerships, alliances, affiliations, and volunteers. Our Community Education Branch was established in order to provide RJ educational opportunities to the communities we serve about the Restorative Justice philosophy and why our work is so important in Washington state.
The RJWA community education platform offers our services in a variety of settings. We teach RJ modules at criminal justice training centers and events, bring guest speakers and activities to colleges and high schools, present detailed advocacy research to legislative committees and commissions, offer programs which satisfy continued learning experience (CLE) hours for defense attorneys/prosecutors/judges, etc., and even facilitate town hall meetings for communities in distress or who want to learn more about the RJ philosophy and what we do at RJWA.
Our work with crime victims and offenders is why we were established. But failing to educate our communities, policy makers, and those who enforce the law would be to risk returning to an era where crime survivors were, for the most part, left in the dark and forced to figure it out on their own. And that's not a risk that RJWA or our affiliates are willing to take. We are here to support survivors, increase accountability in offenders, and let our communities know that help is ALWAYS available to those who have been harmed by crime.