BOSTON - A new approach that moves the justice system for some crimes out of the courtroom and into consensus building circles has the backing of a police chief and the top prosecutor in the state's most populous county, who hopes to write the program into state law books.

Arlington Police Chief Fred Ryan told the News Service that for more minor crimes "restorative justice" programs offer offenders an alternative to seeing a conviction on their record and give victims the chance to confront offenders in a controlled setting.

"The victim gets to drive the bus. In the traditional criminal justice system the victim is but a witness in the Commonwealth's case. They're just a witness," Ryan told the News Service. He said restorative justice circles are only open to defendants who admit their wrongdoing. Those who assert their innocence can take their cases to court, he said.

In restorative justice, the victim, offender and others gather for a "consensus building process" that results in steps the offender needs to take in a 60-to-90-day window followed by another meeting, said Ryan, who said there had been success in a case of church vandalism in Arlington.

In early December Arlington police announced they had identified a 23-year-old Arlington man as the suspect in a case where someone changed a sign in front of First Parish Unitarian Church to read "All Lives Matter" instead of "Black Lives Matter."

Black Lives Matter, the rallying cry for groups protesting police-related deaths of African Americans, has been met by others arguing black people should be given no special distinction in that regard.

"We could have hit him with a felony," said Ryan, who said the man went through the restorative justice process instead, and a parishioner who was very angry at the beginning wound up offering to hold a fundraiser to give the man a much-needed education while the offender had to perform community service and write a "reflective letter."

"It's fascinating to watch this process unfold, and the outcomes by and large are far more productive than what the traditional criminal justice system might offer," said Ryan before speaking at a closed-press Boston Bar Association event on the subject. He said, "The traditional criminal justice system is: Was there a crime? Who committed the crime? What's the penalty? There's very little interaction between the offender and the victim. In fact in the traditional criminal justice system it's almost prohibited. In the restorative setting it's: Was there harm? Who's responsible for the harm? And how then do we repair that harm?"

Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan - no relation to Chief Ryan - told the News Service she wants the Legislature to pass legislation that she hopes would bring the system to the attention of law enforcement around Massachusetts.

"We would like it to spread across the state," the district attorney told the News Service. She said the legislation would not compel district attorneys to follow the model she uses in Middlesex County.

Over the past year the Judiciary Committee has reported out two versions of restorative justice bills (H 4368/S 71) originally filed by Rep. Sean Garballey, an Arlington Democrat, and Sen. Jamie Eldridge, an Acton Democrat. The House and Senate Ways and Means committees - whose chairpersons are negotiating the fiscal 2017 budget amid cratering revenue estimates - each now has a version of the legislation with the clock ticking down to the July 31 end of formal sessions.

The bills would make restorative justice principles official state policy and lay a statutory framework for restorative justice programs.

The Middlesex district attorney said the program has been used for longer among juveniles and about 2,400 juveniles have participated with her office in the past decade.

She said the cost of restorative justice is "minimal" and said it "discourages recidivism" though she didn't have data on hand to support that assertion.

While awaiting an outside study of the state's justice system lawmakers have taken a piecemeal approach to criminal justice reform this session - repealing most of a 1989 law that automatically suspended the drivers' licenses of drug offenders and increasing the penalty for trafficking in the powerful painkiller fentanyl.

The Middlesex district attorney said she hopes the restorative justice bill has the momentum to become law this year. "It just makes so much sense," she said.