True justice seeks to heal rather than punish. Restorative justice is a harm-centered, needs-based, and accountability-driven approach that prioritizes repair over retribution and restores agency to those most affected by violence. It recognizes that crime affects not only individuals but also families and entire communities, and that meaningful healing must be pursued with equal breadth. By promoting restorative justice, we advocate for processes that facilitate dialogue, genuine accountability, and reconciliation between those who have caused harm, those who have been harmed, and the broader community.

 

The death penalty removes survivors from meaningful decision-making about how harm should be addressed. It treats the state as the primary victim, often forcing families through years of retraumatizing court proceedings while failing to deliver the closure it promises. Many victim families report that restorative processes, which allow for truth-telling, dialogue, and genuine accountability, provide healing that retribution cannot. Survivors who participate in restorative processes report reduced trauma and unresolved anger, and communities with robust restorative practices see lower rates of reoffending.

 

SCADP supports the development and expansion of restorative justice approaches in South
Carolina, where currently no statutory or court-authorized restorative alternative exists for capital cases. We advocate for survivor-centered, trauma-informed processes that are entered voluntarily, carefully facilitated, and never imposed. Because harm does not occur in isolation, it emerges from, and shapes, broader social and moral contexts, we support approaches that attend to the needs of survivors, their communities, people who have caused harm, and their families. We believe that restoration, not retribution, is the path to lasting peace and community safety across South
Carolina.