Restorative justice in a case of serious sexual assault

from the article by Claire Chung for Restorative Justice Week 2011:

....I was raped twice, at knifepoint, by a man who had been released from prison, just 24 hours earlier. I was his 27th victim. I reported the crime immediately. He had walked off abruptly in the middle of the attack and I was sure of 2 things: he had done this before and he would do it again.

I was believed and the rapist was caught, sentenced and returned to prison. Justice was done. Since the assailant pled “guilty” he was allowed a third off his tariff and the Judge, “to spare me any further distress”, proceeded quickly to his decision. Although I was in court, nobody looked at me and nobody heard me.

Dec 23, 2011 Dialogue, Offender, Case:Sexual, Victim, Prison, Policy

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After the crime: the power of restorative justice. Dialogues between victims and violent offenders

by Martin Wright

Violence, rape, murder and other abusive crimes:  not usually pleasant subjects to read about, yet Susan Miller's book left this reader with a positive feeling.  This is largely due to Miller herself, who presents the information in a straightforward, sympathetic but non-judgemental way;  to Kim Book, who started the organization Victims' Voices Heard after her daughter was murdered; and to the participants themselves.  Not all victims felt able to forgive, and this should not be a criterion for 'success';   but they followed the Amish precept:  don't balance hurt with hate.  Not all offenders accepted full responsibility.  Miller divides restorative justice into diversion, taking the place of the criminal justice process for relatively minor cases, and 'therapeutic' RJ, where the offender is already in custody or has served a prison term.  These cases are all in the latter category.

Jul 29, 2011 Dialogue, Prison, Book Review, Offender, Practice, Case:Violence, Victim, Case:Sexual, Case:Homicide, Forgiveness

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Interview with Debbie, a rape victim of Robert Power

from the interview by Ines Aubert:

Ines Aubert was a pen pal of Robert Powers who had been sentenced to death for the rape and murder of a 12-year-old girl. She discovered over time that Robert had changed profoundly and that he wanted, among other things, to extend an apology to any of his victims who wished to receive that. 

This took on some urgency at the end of 2010 as Robert neared the end of his life (he died of cancer on December 3). Ines contacted restorative justice consultant and RJOnline Correspondent Lisa Rea for assistance, but they were unable to find a way to reach out to Robert's victims. Lisa wrote about this in an earlier blog entry on RJOB.

Commenting on an article about Robert's death in a Florida newspaper, Ines wrote that he had wanted to apologize before his death but had been unable. Another reader -- one of Robert's victims -- replied to Ines that she had forgiven Robert. The two were able to connect, and Ines recently interviewed Debbie about her experience as a victim and the reasons for her forgiveness. The following is a short excerpt of an answer Debbie gave to Ines' question about how she felt when she learned that Robert had a pen pal.

Feb 11, 2011 Apology, Offender, Prison, Other, Case:Violence, Victim, Case:Sexual, Forgiveness, Country:USA

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