A teenager’s life is on the line — but he is nowhere to be found.

People have gathered inside a D.C. government building on a rainy holiday morning to help decide what happens to the young man, but he hasn’t shown up.

After several phone calls and nearly an hour of waiting, the 16-year-old boy finally arrives. NPR, which was permitted to attend the meeting for this story, is not identifying him because he is a minor.

Facilitator Roman Haferd is eager to get started.

“It’s been a bit of a morning — a bit of a scramble this morning — but the good news is that everybody’s here,” he says.

The boy was involved with an assault. But what plays out over the next three hours is a restorative justice conference — a guided conversation between a juvenile who broke the law and the person whom the juvenile hurt.

If the program works, the victim and the offender discuss what happened and agree on a way to move ahead so that criminal charges are dismissed.

To supporters, the message is clear: Achieving justice doesn’t always involve punishment or retribution — and young people have the capacity for change.

D.C. Prosecutors, Once Dubious, Are Becoming Believers In Restorative Justice

Illustration: Anke Gladnick for NPR