Real People, Real Stories

Stories of actual victims, offenders and community members who have participated in restorative processes help illustrate the benefits and limitations of restorative justice practices.

New payback justice: Both sides of the fence

from Neal Keeling's article in Manchester Evening News: Ruth Edmunds and Peter Woolf have been on either side of the Restorative Justice programme – and both believe it works. Ruth decided to meet a teenage boy who was in a gang of three vandals that wrecked a Scout hut in Poynton, Cheshire, where she worked as a volunteer. Peter's life changed for ever when he met the man he attacked and left bleeding during a burglary. Seven years on, he hasn't reoffended.

Restorative justice stops fights, keeps kids in schools

from Nelson Garcia's article on 9News.com: Juan Salazar used to be one of those students who got into trouble for fighting at North High School. Now he uses words instead of fists. "If someone bumped into me, I started saying something," Salazar, a senior, said. "It always led to a fight." It also always led to a suspension.

Knife robber meets victim

from the article in Lancaster Guardian: A woman who was robbed at knifepoint visited her teenage attacker in prison to receive an apology from him as part of a restorative justice project. Police offered Zoe Harrison the chance to meet Arron Burns, 18, at Lancaster Farms, to help her bring closure to her ordeal.

Asking Questions and Speaking the Truth

In 2006, Kathy Key's husband was killed on his way home from work when his motorcycle was hit by a car. The driver was arrested for driving drunk. Through a restorative justice programme, Kathy met the man responsible for her husbands death. In this two minute interview with BBC, Kathy explains her reasons for participating in the meeting and what she felt the offender got out of the meeting.

Exonerated man, accuser forge rare bond

from Stephanie Chen's story on CNN.com: Cage, then 26, was shocked when the police arrested him. "I'm innocent," he insisted. That didn't matter. Two years later in 1996, Zilinger's testimony would convict Cage, sending him to prison for 40 years. Zilinger was absolutely sure. Even his voice sounded like her attacker's, she said. After four appeals and 14 years in prison, Cage won his freedom. A sample of the assailant's saliva, retrieved from the victim's body in 1994, was the proof he needed. A DNA test, which was not available at the time of the trial, was performed on the saliva and excluded him. Cage was exonerated in May 2008.

Abuse and restoration: A non-violent approach

By Paige Lawrence Editor's note: Mr. Lawrence sent his powerful story to RJ Online. His story is remarkable particularly because he did not have the assistance of restorative practitioners who could have helped him and his father in their initial conversations. Perpetrators or survivors who wish to make contact with the other should find a restorative facilitator to determine if such a meeting is advisable and to help both prepare. My name is Paige Lawrence and I want to talk to you about reconciling abuse. Reconciliation is about making things whole again, about restoration. My experience was that the anger and the pain that sexual abuse caused in my family and my life was compromising my ability to accomplish the things I wanted for myself ten, fifteen, even twenty years after the actual abuse occurred. So, in my late twenties after trying spiritual counseling and psychotherapy to no avail, I tried contacting the sexual abuser who had started it all and talking to him directly. It was not easy, it was scary and it took a long time to develop the level of respect and trust that we needed to be able to speak plainly to one another; but we did it and I want to share some of what I learned from that experience with you. I am not a therapist and I am not a PhD, I’m just a guy who experienced sexual abuse first hand and I want very much to share with you what helped me.

Long path to redemption: Restorative justice has success stories, but law doesn't require its use

from J. Adrian Stanley's article in Colorado Springs Independent: Back in June 2005, [Jonathan] Price was 17 and looking forward to his senior year at Sand Creek High School with his "posse" a tight group of friends, mostly military brats, who had spent their high school years invading each other's houses like family, having sleepovers and playing Halo. When they were younger, they caused the "boys will be boys" brand of trouble stealing bulbs out of porch lights, ringing doorbells and running away. Now they were acting their age more often. One day, Price and buddies Terence Henderson and Marcus (last name not available) decided to head to Price's place. Marcus called shotgun. Henderson insisted on riding on top of the trunk. Price began driving. He rounded a curve and paused at a stop sign. That's when they noticed Henderson was gone. The boy had fallen off the back and hit his head. A day later, he was dead.

Real People, Real Stories: Victims Face Fear and Find Healing in Prison

The Sycamore Tree Project® (STP) brings indirect victims and offenders together for a series of in-prison meetings to discuss crime and its impact. Recently, the Australian Broadcasting Company radio programme "Street Stories" followed two victims as they participated in a STP course in Acacia Prison. Through the interview, the victims tell their stories of victimization and describe the myriad of emotions and thoughts they experienced in the programme.

Perspective: Compassion can change the world

from Jody Tiller Mackey's article in The News Tribune: One night, a few boys with baseball bats and an unthinking need for excitement cruised their small-town Vermont neighborhood smashing mailboxes. An elderly woman arose the next day, the first anniversary of her husband’s death, to find the mailbox, his very last woodworking project, smashed in her front yard. Emotionally distraught, she didn’t know what to think. Had she been targeted; was something like this going to happen again? In our traditional justice system she might never get to find out the answer to those questions.

Lisa Rea interviews Stephen Watt

by Lisa Rea: The following interview is with Stephen Watt, a former Wyoming state trooper and two term state legislator who was shot multiple times by a fleeing bank robber. Lisa Rea's interview focuses on how the impact of a severely violent crime continues 20 years later. Mr. Watt has met with the offender, forgiven him and a friendly relationship has grown up between them. Nevertheless, he continues to suffer. Can restorative justice open doors for further healing in a victim of violent crime who is suffering continuing, severe trauma?

A new kind of justice

from Rebecca Webber's article in Parade Magazine: From Fresno, Calif., to Hempstead, N.Y., hundreds of communities in the country are using “ restorative justice” to deal with criminals. Offenders must take responsibility for their actions and try to repair the harm they’ve done—by apologizing, returning stolen money, or doing community service, for example. “People find a way to right the wrong, and that’s the beauty of it,” says Beverly Title, who runs a program in Longmont, Colo. Restorative justice can work in lieu of the criminal-justice system or in partnership with it.

Offenders, victims resolve their own cases

from Shane Benjamin's article in the Durango Herald: Zane Wells, 22, drank too much one night at El Rancho. In a stupor, he kicked a door and caused about $300 in damage. He was arrested for criminal mischief, a misdemeanor. But instead of letting the courts resolve the case, he was selected to participate in a victim-offender mediation program, where he could apologize to the business owners and hash out a mutual resolution. At first, bar owners Chip and Chris Lile were reluctant to participate in such a program. They felt victimized by Wells’ actions and wanted the courts to enact justice. “My thoughts were, it was a way for somebody to avoid trouble with the courts and get out of what they did,” Chip Lile said.

St Rita's College Clayfield rocked by cheating scandal

From Tanya Chilcott's article in Courier-Mail: A leading Brisbane private girls' school has been rocked by a cheating scandal after a group of students was caught just weeks before graduation. St Rita's College principal Dale Morrow said the incident, the first of its kind in her eight years at the Clayfield school, had been "a very difficult" time for all involved..... ....It is understood one girl attained the answers from a teacher's computer and passed them on.

Angela's tears - A presentation on the São Paulo RJ projects in Rio de Janeiro

From the post at the Restorative Circles Blog Yesterday was the first formal presentation of the São Paulo RJ project, 'Justiça e educação', to the justice and education communities in Rio de Janeiro. Most of those who have made these projects possible - in São Caetano do Sul, in Guarulhos, in Heliopolis, in Campinas and elsewhere - spoke, and even though the city was under the second day of torrential rain and it was the friday before a holiday weekend, there wasn't a free seat and many stood until the end.

Radical change

by Sandi Hawnt, a Sycamore Tree Project® facilitator writing in Inside Out, the newsletter of Prison Fellowship New Zealand: When I shook his hand it was cold and sweaty. He was clearly nervous to meet me - much more than I was to meet him. I was impressed that he had waited for me. The others had all gone out for their allocated 'yard time'. Just one hour a day in Maxi - quite a lot to give up on the off chance that he might be included in the programme. Interviewing him was difficult - he was so desperate to be on the programme that he was almost paralysed with nerves. Every now and then he forgot what we were talking about and I became concerned that he might be unstable. As a new facilitator I did not want to have a safety risk on my hands, so I said no to him. However, this decision didn't sit right with me. I felt uneasy, sad... wrong.

Healing through victim offender mediation

from Laura Melton Tucker's entry on Peacewise Takeaways: Back in 2001 a young teenager, whose real name is not David, joined his friend in a robbery. While a family in their neighborhood was away, they broke in and stole a coin collection, an old watch, and other items that David and his friend could fence for cash. The plan went off without a hitch, except that David and his friend were arrested when law officers linked them to the crime. David qualified for a community mediation program between victims and offenders that he agreed to participate in.

Dignity in schools: an unexcused absence

 

In the living room with the lion and the lamb

from Kevin Rogers' post on Community Chaplain: Karen was sexually abused as a child. Now in her fifties, she sat in the chair across from me and told her story. Decades had passed without resolving the tension adequately with her father. As a grown woman, she was able to instantly lock into her feelings of betrayal from a daddy forever stuck in the past. Her new friend Wayne sat on the couch to the left listening attentively with somber reflection. He had served time in prison for abusing his own children. He had not seen his own wife or children for a few years. Here was a troubled man wanting to examine his heart to understand why he had failed so horribly.

Can murder ever be forgiven: A restorative justice case study

 

Excellence in Education Award given for restorative practices