Faith Communities and Restorative Justice

Faith communities are touched by restorative thinking and practice in a number of ways. They may use restorative processes to resolve their own conflicts. Their members may be victims, offenders and/or family members of both. They may seek to influence their communities to support restorative programmes. They may sponsor, or their members may participate in, those programmes. And they may advocate for systemic change to make restorative justice a more prominent part of their community's response to crime. Or they may do none of those things. The following articles consider the challenging and sometimes complicated relationship between faith communities and restorative justice.

Restorative justice

from Susan Lee Giles' article on My Roseville: When he joined the congregation for a Sunday service they saw a quiet, shy young man barely past boyhood. As they listened to him they finally understood what had happened and at last knew that the church had not been the target of a hate crime. A nagging fear vanished. Now it was clear that the fire was an accident and the boys had emptied every fire extinguisher trying to put it out and left not knowing that an ember would ignite and burn down the building. The young man listened quietly as each person told him what the fire had meant to them personally. When every person had finished he told them that until that moment he had only thought of it as an empty building but now he saw faces of people, a community, whose lives had been impacted by the fire. He said he was truly sorry and ashamed and offered to come back and work for the church.

Churches grapple with whether to welcome convicted sex offenders

from the article by Adelle M. Banks in the Washington Post: "All are welcome" is a common phrase on many a church sign and Web site. But what happens when a convicted sex offender is at the door? Church officials and legal advocates are grappling with how -- and whether -- people who have been convicted of sex crimes should be included in U.S. congregations, especially when children are present:

Helping victims of clergy sexual abuse: Suggestions for Pope Benedict XVI:

from Robert M. Hoatson's post on Road to Recovery: Based on Road to Recovery’s on-the-ground experience helping the abused cope with the effects of their abuse, we offer to Pope Benedict and his colleagues in the hierarchy the following suggested action steps that will help restore clergy abuse victims to fullness of life (these steps do not preclude the necessary and/or statutory reporting of all crimes to local and/or national law enforcement):

Religion, conflict & peacebuilding: An introductory programming guide

from the introduction to the toolkit by USAID: Connecting religion and violent conflict is easy to do. Many of the world’s violent outbreaks, both present and past, are couched in religious terms, ranging from the 1st century Jewish-Roman War, to the 11th century Crusades, to 17th century Thirty Years War to the 20th century Irish civil war to contemporary conflicts in Sri Lanka, Nigeria, Iraq, and Israel/West Bank/Gaza. Connecting religion and peacebuilding is equally easy to do. Human history includes many examples where the religiously motivated acted in extraordinary ways to bridge divides, promote reconciliation, or advocate peaceful coexistence. It thus becomes clear that understanding the dynamics of conflict—both the sources of discord and the forces of resilience—requires an understanding of the connections between conflict, religion and peacebuilding. And yet sensitivities and uncertainties surrounding the mere mention of religion frequently stand in the way of that understanding.

Peace Studies programmes

from the entry on PCPJ Blog: Michael Westmoreland-White compiled this.... As a service, I thought I would list all the U.S. colleges and universities that have programs with names like “peace studies,” “peace and global studies,” “peacebuilding and conflict resolution studies,” etc. I found there were enough that I decided just to list the church-related ones and do the others in a separate post. Typically, such programs are multi-disciplinary involving faculty from several departments including international studies, history, philosophy, religious studies, international law, economic development, and/or political science or sociology. The earliest such programs in the U.S. were in institutions related to the “historic peace churches” (Mennonites, Church of the Brethren, and Friends/Quakers), but it has spread beyond them.

Feb 7, 2010: National day of prayer for criminal justice reform

Encourage your church to participate in the National Day of Prayer for Criminal Justice Reform and contact Bill Mefford for more information. Churches throughout the United States will spend either part or all of their prayer time during their Sunday worship services on Feburary 7th to focus on criminal justice reform. Specifically they will lift up the need for a fair criminal justice system based on restorative principles that do not sentence people to unjustly long sentences or target certain racial groups, so that the families of the incarcerated can be strengthened and local communicates safely restored.

Why is it important for people of faith to be involved in domestic violence work?

from the Renewal House blog entry: A reporter from the Boston Herald asked me that question yesterday afternoon. The reporter is working on an article highlighting the Restorer’s Ministry, a new hotline led by three women from the Grace of All Nations Church in Dorchester. We have been supporting the training needs of the three as they seek to live out their call to serving individuals and families struggling with issues of domestic violence in their community.

'They are not scum'

 

A Pilot Study of a faith-based restorative justice intervention for Christian and non-Christian offenders

from the journal article by Armour, Windsor, Aguilar, and Taub in Journal of Psychology and Christianity: Restorative justice and faith-based programs are receiving increased attention as innovative ways to help change offenders' internal motivations as well as external behaviors (Rockefeller institute of Government, 2007). The purpose of the present pilot study is to examine change in offenders' pro-social responses after participation in an in-prison faith-based program that draws from the principles of restorative justice.

Servant leadership, restorative justice and forgiveness

from Shere McClamb's blog The Webmaster's Corner: The terms of servant-leadership, restorative justice, and forgiveness depend on one another, they are all interdependent but not interchangeable. To be a Servant Leader one must believe that justice must be restorative, and must have the capacity to forgive those who trespass against others. Being a servant to those you serve is paramount to evolving into a servant leader. Restorative justice requires the capacity for forgiveness on levels only those who choose to serve their fellow man can embrace.

A justice that reconciles -- new study guide from Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand

 

NZ Catholic Bishops call for reconciliation, not revenge, in prisons

 

. Anamnestic Solidarity: Immigration from the Perspective of Restorative Justice.

Restorative justice has emerged as a “moral squint” in modern Catholic social teaching. In section (i) of his paper, O’Neill explored the Catholic interpretation of restorative justice against the backdrop of rival communitarian and liberal conceptions. In section (ii), he turned to the implications of the Church’s teaching on restorative justice for undocumented immigrants in a religiously pluralist polity like our own. He concluded (iii) with the distinctive role played by citizens of faith in pursuing restorative justice for undocumented migrants. For like the Good Samaritan, Christians are charged to “go and do likewise” (Lk. 10: 37), i.e., to “see and have compassion” (Lk. 10:33) in “anamnestic solidarity” with the stranger. Whereas in the US, restorative justice comprises various forms of victim-offender mediation in the criminal justice system; in South Africa and Rwanda, restorative justice, in Desmond Tutu’s words, addresses “the healing of breaches, the redressing of imbalances, the restoration of broken relationships” between peoples. The detention, deportation, and incarceration of undocumented migrants in the US raise questions germane to both interpretations of restorative justice. (excerpt)

Umfreville, Dave. The Real World of Restorative Justice Ministry.

This book will look at several facets of restorative justice ministry in the correctional environment. I have come to the conclusion, now after 25 years in prison, jail and juvenile ministry, the need is to recognize what we are dealing with in truly reducing recidivism and being redemptive. Restorative Justice ministry covers the entire range of those touched by the criminal justice system: inmates, staff, victims, and their respective family members. The judicial process needs to be involved also if we are truly to make a lasting impact. First, this book will examine three main areas of concern, break down the specific fields, and model timeless principles from ministries and professionals that actually work in the real world. Second, we will discuss what we can do now in improving conditions inside and out of corrections to the glory of God. Third, we will explore the future of the challenging arena of restorative justice ministry. (excerpt)

Petersen, Rodney L.. Branding Identity for the Twenty-First Century: Church as Neighbourhood Centre for Forgiveness and Reconciliation and for Restorative Justice

"As we have examined the "branding" of Christianity for the twenty-first century, what we have not done is to analyse the "competition", i.e. competing religious or ideological visions. We know too well that as we examine the effect of multi-religious teaching situations on the articulation of, and orientation towards, moral and religious identities, a sociocultural view on learning must be applied to inter-religious learning by engaging in the dialogue between religions in a learning situation. Various perspectives have been drawn in that even argue that a Christian identity is inseparable from finding room for the identity of others." (Abstract)

Hook, Steve. A Time for Renewal

Kainos Community is a faith-based facility operating in four prisons in England. The word "kainos" is Greek for "new beginning." Kainos Community seeks renewal of a prisoner’s life and relationships – relationships with self, with other prisoners, with victims, with families, and with God. Hence, it is a profoundly relational program. Steve Hook describes its roots in and comparisons with the Cursillo movement and Kairos weekends in prisons. He also profiles the actual programs that function within Kainos Community for the renewal and benefit of prisoners.

Van Ness, Daniel W. The Role of the Church in Criminal Justice Reform

Addressing a forum on restorative justice with participants from diverse perspectives, Daniel Van Ness focuses on the role of the Christian Church in criminal justice reform, particularly reform oriented around restorative justice. Asserting that any successful reform movement in a democracy must be presented in terms that will include people from a wide variety of belief systems, he poses two questions. Why should the Church play a role in the restorative justice movement? If the Church should play a role, what role can it play? To answer these questions, Van Ness explores the past record of the Church with respect to criminal justice and criminal justice reform, reasons why many Christians oppose criminal justice reform, reasons why Christians should support criminal justice reform, and ways in which the Church can play a vital role in reform.

Gus Camelino and Roger Rizzo and Johnston, Kellie and Gus Camelino. A return to 'traditional' dispute resolution: An examination of religious dispute resolution systems

Observing that we live in a litigious society with an adjudicative system marked by an adversarial character, the authors argue that alternative dispute resolution should become the standard, such that it is not "alternative" but normal. Toward this end, they investigate the religious foundations that undergird many alternative dispute resolution systems. This begins with a look at the Jewish dispute resolution system, based in Jewish law. Next authors turn to the Islamic tradition, particularly Ismaili dispute resolution (Ismaili Muslims constitute a subset of the Muslim faith). Then they focus on Christian foundations as found in the United Church of Canada’s dispute resolution policy.

Maine Council of Churches. Restoring Victims of Crime - Building Healthy Communities

This material describes why and how a coalition of churches in the United States is committed to promoting restorative justice perspectives and practices in its state criminal justice system, churches, and communities.

Consedine, Jim. Developing Restorative and Transformative Justice: A Church Response to Crime

The author argues not just for restorative justice, but for transformative justice processes as well. Restorative justice has huge strengths, but some limitations. Transformative justice has less. God's justice, as revealed in the sacred scriptures and as defined by the Church in its teachings on the Common Good and other matters, cannot always be achieved fully if one deals only with the immediate matter of a specific offense. Transformative justice looks more closely at the background circumstances of the lives of those involved and seeks to redress some of the injustices existing there. It also recognizes the existence of governmental and corporate crime. Both restorative and transformative justice can provide imaginative and creative processes. Neither is a panacea for all crime. Both will provide fairer justice for all, bring some healing to victims, reduce re-offending, make communities safer and reduce the numbers going to prison.