Dorothy Moote leads a movement that seeks to balance the scales of justice
By: Pat Summers
In her comfortable living room overlooking a lush garden that seems to go on forever, five recorders rest on a stand. Of various sizes and colors, they include alto, tenor, soprano and two basses. Dorothy Moote has played these early-music instruments for about nine years, most of them as a member of a recorder quartet, "The Second Winds."
Those in the group are all mature players, most of them making music after careers and various other mileposts in life. For Ms. Moote, it seems, the second wind was only the beginning.
In 1994, she and her husband, A. Lloyd Moote, retired from successful careers in California and moved to Princeton. They had known and liked the town during the year in the late ’80s that Mr. Moote spent at the Institute for Advanced Study. A UCLA emeritus history professor, Mr. Moote continues with his research and writing, besides gardening.
As a medical microbiologist, Ms. Moote had worked as a clinical pathologist in San Francisco and the UCLA Research Hospital, and then as the science and health specialist at Francisco Bravo Medical Magnet High School in Los Angeles. Both roles were marked by accomplishments and recognition.
Joining forces and specialties, the Mootes who had merged families when they married in 1986 wrote "The Great Plague: The Story of London’s Most Deadly Year" (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004), nominated for the Pulitzer by its publisher. They chuckled with a visitor over a framed quotation in their entry hall: It’s a centuries-old pledge to protect the books in the Bodleian Library of Oxford University, where they did research for the book. (Yes, they took the pledge.)
These days, big chunks of Ms. Moote’s heart and time are taken up with something quite removed from gardens and music, research and writing books. She is founder of the Mercer County Coalition for Restorative Justice, or MCCRJ.
The organization aims to replace the current punitive system of "retributive justice" with "restorative justice," a positive and wholly different approach to dealing with wrongdoers. It would "bring juvenile offenders, victims and trained mediators together to determine accountability and restitution in a non-adversarial, supportive and respectful setting," according to its brochure.
MCCRJ is targeting first-time juvenile offenders for involvement with its program. Their wrongdoing may not be drug- or alcohol-related, nor may it have to do with sexual or intra-family abuse.
The contrasts between the two systems are stark, with the appeal of restorative justice undeniable. "Retributive," from "retribution," pretty well speaks for itself. Think: trials, detention centers and/or prison, criminal records … and recidivism.
With "restorative justice," in contrast, offenders are not removed from the community. Rather, they agree to face the victim of the crime and hear about how it has changed that person’s life. Then, the emphasis is on their accepting responsibility and making appropriate amends. The entire process is facilitated by a trained mediator, who first meets victim and offender separately, then together.
Almost reverentially, Ms. Moote refers to Sister Helen Prejean, famously connected with "Dead Man Walking," whom she has twice heard on the subject of restorative justice. Sr. Prejean advises thinking of the community as a circle. If offenders are removed from that circle (as happens for jail time in the retributive system), they never really fit back in.
Restorative justice, in contrast, allows a perpetrator to stay in place during the correction process, so there’s no need to re-enter the "circle." Community healing is thus another outcome.
Ms. Moote has written about how this process "avoids a trial and possible trip down the ‘penal pipeline.’" Her organization’s research on restorative justice has shown that victims are highly supportive of the program and would use it again, and recidivism depending on how defined declines. Further, she adds, there’s great potential for saving money because juveniles involved with restorative justice don’t move through the judicial/incarceration system.
Right now, although examples of restorative justice can be found elsewhere Ms. Moote describes it as an "ancient tradition," mentioning its frequent practice today near Mennonite communities so far in New Jersey it’s only an idea. However, MCCRJ hopes to make restorative justice for juvenile offenders operational in Mercer County during the next year.
The coalition "evolved from an interfaith prison ministry housed at Trinity (Episcopal) Church in Princeton," according to its brochure. A church member since moving to Princeton, Ms. Moote refers to her compassion for "people who run up against huge barriers in society, or their own shortcomings, and end up on the wrong side … "
Sketching the sequence that has led to MCCRJ, she recalls that it began in 2003 with an interfaith prison ministry housed at Trinity. First, a planning group pulled off a successful forum on the death penalty. Then later, after a few years’ work at the Parkside Detention Center, members began looking into other ways to reach and help juvenile offenders. At that point Ms. Moote suggested the concept of restorative justice.
Her idea promoted creation of a steering committee, and then group research and visits, including one to Lancaster, Pa., to check out a program focusing on victims. A relationship between MCCRJ and the New Jersey Association on Correction has provided office space, tax exemption and fiscal sponsorship.
As of September 2006, 10 MCCRJ board members were in place, including Ms. Moote, who says lightly, "I’m called the founder. That means they have to listen to me." Walter Drew Smith, a restorative justice practitioner and former co-chair of the National Organization of Victim Offender Mediation Association (VOMA), serves as administrator. In that role he also oversaw the recent training of 18 mediators.
The group’s mission, vision and core values have all been spelled out, and the big tasks now are fundraising because half the projected budget will come from the community and promoting the program. MCCRJ will work toward buy-in by the Trenton Police Department this fall, anticipating actual cases being handled in early 2008.
Juvenile offenders lucky enough to experience this restorative justice program will also have a chance for a second wind.
"You’re having a hard time and lately you don’t feel so good,/ You’re getting a bad reputation in your neighborhood./ It’s alright, it’s alright,/ Sometimes that’s what it takes./ You’re only human, you’re allowed to make your share of mistakes … / Don’t forget your second wind."
Billy Joel: "You’re Only Human (Second Wind)"
For more information about the Mercer County Coalition for Restorative Justice, visit www.mccrj.org.

