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.

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.

Mandela's children

from Alexandra Fuller's feature article in National Geographic Magazine: Coetzee does not talk about his childhood. He speaks about the planning that went into the bombing, how he was chosen for his excellent military skills, the years he has spent in prison. He asks for their questions, and the group responds. How did he learn to hate black people? How did he unlearn this hatred? How does he spend his days now? Is he sorry? And if he is so sorry, what can he give them? Coetzee admits he has nothing material to give the world except the leather belt that holds up his overalls. But, he says, God willing, if he gets out of jail, he can begin to attempt to compensate for what he has done. "There are children now in South Africa," he says, "children without parents. They might be tempted to get into violent gangs, to follow anger instead of love." He says, "I can show them that the first life you have to change is your own."

Burglar meets widow he stole ring from in Lancashire

from BBC News: A teenage burglar who stole a widow's engagement ring and sold it has apologised to his victim saying he felt "bad for making an old lady cry". The 18-year-old volunteered to meet the pensioner to make amends for breaking into her Lancaster home in July. The pair met face-to-face at her home and she explained how the theft had left her feeling violated. It came only months after her husband lost a long battle with cancer. She said she now had some "closure".

Praise for tabs kept on taggers

from the article by Marty Sharpe in The Dominion Post: A man woken during the night by two youths tagging his house got up and called police while following the pair as they went on a graffiti spree in Hastings.

Blackburn father wants to meet his son's killer

from the article by Sam Chadderton in This Is Lancashire: The father of a man who died from a single punch in Blackburn town centre wants to meet his son’s killer. William Upton, 17, is currently serving half of a three-and-a-half year custodial sentence after he was convicted of the manslaughter of 24-year-old Adam Rogers, earlier this year. Now Adam’s dignified dad Dave Rogers has expressed a wish to speak face-to-face with the Rishton teenager as part of a ‘restorative justice’ initiative.

Community detention sentence for brain injury

from Anne Clarkson's article in Christchurch Court News A 19-year-old man who punched his victim in an “unprovoked, premeditated attack” causing serious brain injury, was sentenced to community detention in the Christchurch District Court today. Stefan Ronald Vaiola’s defence counsel, Tony Garrett, said Vaiola had attended a restorative justice conference with his victim and his victim’s father. Vaiola found the conference a valued opportunity to personally see the man and say sorry.

Vandalism discovered at home of activists

from the article by Evan Brandt at pottstownmercury.com: Four days after speaking out at a Borough Council meeting about the need to more closely regulate landlords, Katy Jackson woke up to find that green paint had been sprayed along the wall and side door of her house. And some reed fencing she and her husband David had recently erected was slashed. Police investigating the incident said there is no evidence that the vandalism was related to her outspokenness, and the evidence points to a random act of vandalism by a handful of teens.

Offenders provide for food pantries

from Vicki Rock's article in the Daily American: People sentenced to probation are working in a community garden that provides fresh produce to food pantries in Somerset County. “This is a learning experience and is part of BARJ — Balanced and Restorative Justice — that teaches offenders that they need to work to benefit the community,” said Michael Sopich, community service coordinator. “This is good for the community — people who may not be able to afford produce can get it. Those who work in the garden learn where produce comes from and they can then put in gardens at home.” A community garden had been in Somerset years ago, but was stopped. The probation department restarted the garden last year. Robert and Tomalee Will donated about one acre for the garden. They use their farm equipment and fertilizer to prepare the soil. Will also planted 24 rows of corn.

Help for the victims of crime -- and the offenders

From the 10 July article in The Vancouver Sun by Peter McKnight: In 2006, the newly elected Conservative government announced, with much pomp and ceremony, the appointment of the first federal Ombudsman for Victims of Crime. Four years later, Steve Sullivan's role came to an unceremonious end. Upon leaving office earlier this year, Sullivan condemned the Conservatives for failing to address victims' needs. "The tough-on-crime agenda will not meet the needs of victims of crime," he told Canwest News Service, while emphasizing that imposing stiffer sentences on offenders doesn't amount to serving victims. Instead, Sullivan argued that victims desire greater participation in the justice system: "If they are engaged in the process, if they understand why decisions are made and are given a voice, they are more satisfied with the result, regardless of the sentence given."

Letter to the editor

Dear Editor: Last summer I impulsively did something that was out of character for me and very foolish. On top of that, it was illegal. I was caught and was given a summons to appear in court. Fortunately, Estes Park is a compassionate and forward thinking community and allowed me to participate in the Restorative Justice Program. R.J. is a program that allows offenders like myself to pay for their crimes through community service, communication, and interaction with community members and other programs.

Mountain biking and restorative justice

from Lorenn's entry on Restorative Justice & Other Public Health Approaches for Healing: I was almost murdered 34 years ago by a stranger and suffered serious injuries that required surgery and hospitalization. My physical injuries took almost 4 months to heal, but my emotional wounds took much longer. During the first months of recovery I spent a lot of time blaming myself and dwelling on my mistakes. “What were you doing in the dark alone?” I spent my time looking at where I didn’t want to go and I lived there in misery. Eventually the pain became overwhelming. I found help from Harold Hall, Ph.D. who helped me see my strengths and helped me begin to heal emotionally by getting me to look toward the future.

Maryport woman meets youths who made life hell

from the article in the Times & Star: A Maryport woman has come face-to-face with some of the youths who have turned her life into a living hell for the past seven years. The meeting was part of a new restorative justice programme where offenders meet victims to drive home the consequences of their actions. Julie Messenger, 44, of Ellenborough Old Road, has been the target of anti-social behaviour that has cost her hundreds of pounds and turned her life, and that of her 12-year-old daughter, into a living hell.

Boys made to work at park to compensate for vandalism

from the article in Ripley and Heanor News: Three teenagers from Amber Valley have been helping rangers at Shipley Country Park as recompense for damaging a shed in the area. The three boys caused the damage last month and, as punishment for their behaviour, were made to go back to the park and work for a day alongside the rangers.

Restorative Practices in Hungary — Transforming Schools and Prisons

From the Restorative E-Forum article by Laura Mirsky: In April 2010 Vidia Negrea, director of Community Service Foundation (CSF) Hungary, provided an introductory training in facilitating restorative conferences for four different youth group homes in Budapest. This is just the latest development in her work spreading restorative practices in Hungary, which also includes major efforts in schools and prisons. Psychologist Negrea came to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA, in 2000 to learn about restorative practices and has never looked back. Her recent work has been supported by the Ministry of Justice Hungary and the city of Budapest, including a project to reduce aggressive behavior in children and youth, which is bringing restorative practices to six big-city high schools. At first some of the leaders in these high schools weren’t open to the idea of restorative practices. The success of the practices in the wake of one particular incident changed their minds.

Restorative Justice and Campus Conduct Administration

In March, Eastern Mennonite University hosted a symposium exploring the use of restorative practices in college campus conduct administration. These short YouTube videos feature two of the participants describing their experiences with using restorative practices to respond to student misconduct. Josh Bacon, the director of Judicial Affairs at James Madison University in Virginia, describes how implementing restorative practices rejuvenated his career.It gives him the opportunity to interact with students and community members.

What if ... restorative justice?

from Ben Shackelford, Matt Ryan and Sam Withers's article on Our American Generation: Restorative justice (RJ) programs may serve as an effective alternative for handling many criminal offences. RJ originated in indigenous communities where conflicts between individuals were handled in a holistic and collaborative manner, instead of a top-down, linear approach. According to this method, crimes are interpreted as unhealthy actions and symptoms of unhealthy relationships. Thus, group arbitration attempted to heal. Today, RJ programs come in many different shapes and sizes, all paying much deference to the impact a criminal offense makes upon victims and the larger community. RJ offers a mediation platform that allows the offender, victim, community members, and government actors a role in arbitrating the conflict. Victims are given the chance to articulate to offenders the ways in which they were hurt by the crime. This is an opportunity that they often are not afforded in our current court process, and one reason why the majority of victims find the current justice system unsatisfactory. After hearing the victim, offenders have to acknowledge the harm they have caused; they cannot escape the impact they have made on victims, and thus are unable to shift the guilt away. Offenders are able to describe their motivations for offending as well as the circumstances surrounding their offense.

A justice system that focuses on the victim, as well as the offender

From the article by Harvey Voogd in the Edmonton Journal: When a crime occurs, it does not affect just one person, but also impacts their family members and the entire community. This was personally made clear to my family in the fall of 2008 when our pickup was stolen in the middle of the night. Though it was parked in front of our home in Edmonton and under a street light, neither we nor our neighbours heard anything. The truck was recovered near Alberta Beach, but was written off due to a combination of damage sustained and the age of the vehicle. We received $3,700 for the loss, but our new second-hand truck cost $11,000 -- a financial hit that we had not anticipated.

Youths who broke into Pendle firm apologise

from the article in Lancashire Telegraph: A gang of youths which drove a forklift truck around a factory after breaking in have been forced to meet with bosses from the firm. The eight youngsters avoided court and were instead ordered to take part in the restorative justice programme. They met with bosses from Carlson Filtration, in Barnoldswick, and heard how their actions had impacted on the company. The group broke into the factory, in Butts Mill, last month, and drove forklift trucks around, causing £2,000 worth of damage.

Maufas' daughter took items, superintendent says

from the article by Jill Tucker on SFGate.com: The 22-year-old daughter of a San Francisco school board member stole a district laptop and $250 from another school board member and a district staff member while her mother attended board meetings in the same building, district officials confirmed Friday. Francesca Maufas, the daughter of board member Kim-Shree Maufas, took the laptop and $90 cash from a third-floor office of a senior staff member during the school board's March 9 meeting at district headquarters, officials said. A surveillance camera captured the 22-year-old in the hallway and entering the office, said Superintendent Carlos Garcia. She confessed to the theft the next day and disclosed the location of the laptop, which she had stashed in the building, Garcia said. The younger Maufas also acknowledged taking at least $160 from board member Jill Wynns' purse, which had been placed under a desk in the board's office during a late February committee meeting.

Teenage vandals pay for their damage and apologise

from the article on ChesterFirst.co.uk: Three teenagers who vandalised a new play park at a children’s nursery have paid for the damage to be repaired and have also apologised to the children. The three 14 year-olds damaged the new soft play surfacing outside Mrs Roy’s Nursery on Westminster Road, Hoole, just after it was laid on March 16. The flooring was kicked up and names etched into it.