What do we, as a society, do with people who have committed harm?
In recent years, a good answer has emerged. Restorative justice is an approach that focuses on the rehabilitation of the offender through reconciliation with the victim, their families, and the community at large.
It hinges on this basic belief: We should hold people who commit acts of violence accountable, but we should also give them the help they need to address the underlying causes of criminality (often trauma), the opportunity to make amends, and a pathway forward that provides redemption once their debt is paid.
This approach is gaining momentum because it works, and it actually takes into account what all the people affected by crime need in the situation. Victims, their families, and members of the community can weigh in on what they need to feel safe or to rebuild their lives. Law enforcement and correction officers are given a chance to play a part in the rehabilitation of individuals. And our society gains whole, productive citizens who can play vital roles in interrupting violence, as well as lead fulfilling lives.
This model has the ability to break cycles of violence, produce safer communities, conserve tax dollars, restore families, and save lives. But while this approach has been taking off in criminal justice reform circles, a counterproductive method to dealing with those who have done wrong has also been gaining traction in our country: Cancel culture.
In the age of social media and the camera phone, a person’s bad behavior can go viral in a matter of minutes. When this happens, the internet responds quickly. Names, places of employment, contact information, and other personal details will all be online quickly after footage of an incident leaks, and the internet mob gets to work. It won’t rest until people lose their jobs and are removed from whatever seats of power they currently hold.
Just this week, I wrote about such an incident.
Amy Cooper, a New York woman, got into an altercation with a black man in Central Park when he asked her to leash her dog. Most people know what transpired next, and it wasn’t pretty. Cooper called 911, lied, and repeatedly claimed that she and her dog were being threatened by an African American man. Her intentions were clear and sinister, and she certainly deserved repercussions for this behavior that was not only a crime but could have gotten a young man killed.
Cooper has since lost her job as a vice president at an insurance investment company. She also lost custody of her dog, which she was strangling during the span of the one-minute video documenting her actions. She has, effectively, been canceled. What becomes of her next? Few will bother to ask.
We’re at a fork in the road, and society must choose between these responses to harm. One falls back on antiquated practices that are excessively punitive, fail to curb behavior we do not like, and perpetuate cycles of violence. The other offers a way to address wrongdoing, provides restitution to victims, and creates healing.
It doesn’t benefit society for Cooper to be doxxed, canceled, or left in ruins. But imagine a world where Cooper was held accountable for her actions, forged a relationship with the young man she maligned, and was given a road map to make amends to him and society. I think society would undoubtedly benefit in that scenario, and so would all of the actors involved.
Showing grace and mercy to people we’re (however justly) mad at is not a natural response. Rather, it is human to have emotional, visceral reactions to cruelty and to desire vengeance. But we should not allow our emotions to set public policy, instead, we need initiatives that are based on outcomes and the principles of limited government and individual liberty.
Furthermore, we’ve all done things we could be “canceled” over if someone were to have been recording, and we all need pathways forward to grow from our mistakes. We as a society must extend the second chances we would hope to receive to others.
Cancel culture and restorative justice cannot coexist. Let’s work to ensure that the latter wins out.
Hannah Cox (@HannahCox7) is a libertarian-conservative criminal justice reform activist and a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog.
