Category Archives: victim-offender conferences

Oprah Winfrey Network reprises ‘Confronting’ series featuring victim-offender face-to-face conferences

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Victim-offender conferences are a primary tool used in restorative justice programs. Tonight (Sept. 17, 2011) at 10 p.m. Eastern time, the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) will reprise its Confronting series, featuring an example of a victim-offender conference.

Tonight’s episode features the face-to-face meeting between a mother whose son was killed on his prom night and the woman whose impaired driving under the influence caused his death.

According to the OWN website:

“Confronting… documents the powerful and sometimes painful mediation process, where victim and offender come together to find some measure of closure. Mediation programs currently exist in 48 states across the country, and with each encounter the results are dramatic and life changing for both the victim and the offender. Every episode will follow both victim and offender as they prepare to come together, face to face, for the most important conversation of their lives.”

At the risk of seeming picky, practitioners of restorative justice often differentiate between the term “mediation” and the process they call “victim-offender conferencing,”  although the face-to-face conferences certainly involve elements of mediation.  The terminology has evolved as restorative practices have been introduced and followed.

Here is a sneak preview of tonight’s program.

http://www.oprah.com/common/omplayer_embed.html?article_id=30608

Unfortunately, access to this excellent program is limited to pay-TV subscribers whose cable packages include Oprah’s network. It’s another example of the digital divide.
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A Restorative Justice Success Story from the U.K.

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Another day, another restoration.

Saturday’s issue of The Guardian features an interview (<— it’s important that you click here) with a crime victim and the chemically-dependent man who burglarized her home. As the reporter points out, this interview occurred after both parties had participated in Restorative Justice processes. Although victim-offender conferences are a central part of the process, the peacemaking circle at the heart of the process is much more comprehensive and intensive, involving family members, representatives of the local community and the justice system.

The fact that this Guardian interview could take place at all is testament to the successful outcomes available through restorative processes.

Picture of UK success in Restorative Justice

Reggie and Kathleen (who didn’t want to give her surname). Photograph: David Sillitoe for the Guardian

In the U.K., the Ministry of Justice is in the midst of major reforms. One of those reforms will be an increased reliance on restorative principles. A Green Paper focusing on addiction quotes a former inmate describing his experience with the process:

“I was in prison waiting to be sentenced. I was asked to meet some people face-to-face who I had burgled to get money for drugs. I only did it to get out of the cell for an hour, I thought it would be easy. But it was different. When you hear about the damage you have done, when you feel the harm you have caused, you have to be a very, very bitter and twisted person for this not to affect you. I have had easier days at the Old Bailey.”

Peter Woolf, rehabilitated repeat offender in testimony to the Centre for Social Justice

“Old Bailey” is the Central Criminal Court in England, named for the street in which it stands. It is a court building in central London, one of a number of buildings housing the Crown Court. The Crown Court sitting at the Central Criminal Court deals with major criminal cases from Greater London and, in exceptional cases, from other parts of England and Wales.

In a terse summation of the case for reform, the authors of the Green Paper conclude:

“Restorative Justice is over-researched and under-utilised. It is proven to be highly effective in increasing victim satisfaction levels and reducing . . . re-offending. To begin to put rehabilitation at the heart of the prison system we will introduce Restorative Justice Conferences to enhance justice for victims and begin the process of life change for prisoners.”

Beyond Phenomenal Forgiveness: A Mother’s Relationship with Her Son’s Killer

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Victim-offender Johnson Israel

Mary Johnson, 59, spoke with Oshea Israel, 34, at StoryCorps in Minneapolis.

Ginny H., a friend of this blog, shared this story (<—click here) from National Public Radio's StoryCorps. If you missed the NPR broadcast this morning, I urge you to invest the time to read and listen to this story. It begins with the gang-related murder of her son, Laramiun Byrd, and it extends from a conscious decision to forgive the killer to developing a loving relationship with him.

For people who champion Restorative Justice, this can only be a story of inspiration. Involving victims and offenders in restorative conferences early on might increase the likelihood of phenomenal outcomes like these. It is not an easy process, and not everyone in the justice system will even be willing to consider restorative options. But the story of Mary Johnson and Oshea Israel stands as a testimony to what is sometimes possible.

If you’re involved in neighborhood justice, or the local justice system — or, if you are just a concerned citizen who wants something more than orange jump suits for offenders, followed by the release of angry inmates into your community — and, if you think crime victims deserve a time of deep listening to their pain by the offender, the justice system and the community, maybe you will want to investigate local options for Restorative Justice (RJ).

RJ offers no easy grace or instantaneous forgiveness. It entails a difficult process to repair harms done, and to restore victims and offenders to a more compassionate community. The current system of warehousing of prisoners and neglecting crime victims does not seem to be working at all well. Is it time to investigate alternatives?

Call the Governor: Restorative Justice Bill Passes Colorado General Assembly

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Colorado’s General Assembly passed legislation Wednesday night in the waning hours of its current session to include restorative justice practices among the options available to the justice system.  Participation must be voluntarily chosen.

Colorado Senator Linda Newell, co-sponsor or Restorative Justive bill

State Sen. Newell steered restorative justice bill through Colorado Senate.

Senate sponsor Sen. LindaNewell (linda.newell.senate@gmail.com) and House sponsor Rep. Pete Lee (reppete@gmail.com)  guided the legislation through multiple votes.  The House concurred with the Senate version in a vote late on May 11.  HB 11-1032, now goes to Gov.  John Hickenlooper for signature.

The bill encourages each school district in the state and the state charter school institute to implement restorative justice practices that each school in the district or each institute charter school can use in its disciplinary program.

The bill also creates the right for a victim to be informed by the district attorney about the availability of restorative justice practices and the possibility of a victim-offender conference.

To contact Gov. Hickenlooper, call (303) 866-2471 or Fax (303) 866-2003.  A common perception is that restorative practices can be costly.  A call or fax to Gov. Hickenlooper could offer a counterbalance.

Lynn Lee (lynnglee@aol.com), wife of the bill’s House sponsor Rep. Pete Lee, is active in the Pikes Peak Restorative Justice Council.  She is the recent recipient of the John Gallagher Restorative Justice Volunteer of the Year Award.

 

 

A Visionary Judge Makes Restorative Justice Come Alive in Alabama

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I was intrigued when a recent online search included a hit posing this question: “What if lawyers were Peacemakers, Problem Solvers and Healers of  Conflict?”

Alabama judge employs Restorative Justice in Montgomery court

Judge Tracey McCooey

A few clicks later and I was listening to Judge Tracey McCooey, who serves on the bench of Alabama’s 15th Judicial Circuit Court in Montgomery, on the website Cutting Edge Law.  (More on that in an upcoming post.)

In a six-part video series, Judge McCooey talks passionately about her believe that justice requires much more than the court system provides, especially in the area of giving crime victims the opportunity to meet the offenders, face-to-face, in a safe place, and to do so on a voluntary basis.  (If you walk out of here and find someone has stolen your car radio, chances are you don’t have much interest in meeting the thief, she says in one segment.  But the more deeply you have been hurt, the more likely you want to meet the offender and ask questions like “why?”.)

As appealing as her speaking style and warmth is her story about the unorthodox path that led her to the bench.  Serving as a judge was never in her long-range plans, but when she won her first election against a well-established Montgomery lawyer, surprising herself in the process, she knew there were some new thing she wanted to try.  Finding ways of implementing a restorative justice program was among them, and she set about methodically but quietly to make this happen.

Watch this series if you’d like to meet a judge who approaches her calling 24/7, who believes in the power of personal interaction — which has included working closely with offenders as they pick up trash, and spending her Saturday afternoons quilting with people who have passed through the drug court.

Watch the entire series, if you prefer, on this page of the Cutting Edge Law website.

To see how thoroughly the Montgomery court has integrated restorative justice principles into their programs, be sure to visit the court’s website.