the friend online
03 October 2008

Restorative justice

Marian Liebmann describes a way of reducing crime where punishment is reduced and an outcome, satisfactory to both victim and perpetrator, is found

Quakers have always had an interest in criminal justice matters, ever since they were put in prison themselves during the early days of Quakerism. They saw firsthand the conditions in prisons and the social outcasts who found themselves there. Many Quakers involved themselves in prison work, the most famous being Elizabeth Fry, who devoted much of her life to working with women in prisons.

These days not a lot has changed. Prisons may not be the rat-infested dungeons they once were, but they are no picnic. And with rising prison numbers (Britain holds the dubious record of locking up more people than any other country in Western Europe), we need another way of dealing with crime.

Quakers believe in ‘that of God in everyone’, so have always ministered to offenders and, more recently, to victims of crime. Whereas the traditional justice system has concentrated on punishment of offenders and doing little for victims, Quakers have been advocates of restorative justice as a way of helping both victims and offenders.

What follows is the definition put together by the Restorative Justice Consortium, a national UK charity which promotes restorative justice: restorative justice works to resolve conflict and repair harm. It encourages those who have caused harm to acknowledge the impact of what they have done and gives them an opportunity to make reparations. It offers those who have suffered harm the opportunity to have their harm or loss acknowledged and amends made.

These are the hallmarks of a restorative approach:

• Victim support and healing is a priority;

• Offenders take responsibility for what they have done;

• There is dialogue to achieve understanding;

• There is an attempt to put right the harm done;

• Offenders look at how to avoid future offending; and

• The community helps to reintegrate both victim and offender.

Quakers are not the only people to believe restorative justice provides a better way of dealing with crime. Youth Offending Teams (YOT) now offer a restorative approach to victims and offenders in the youth justice system, as the following story shows.

Matthew, aged sixteen, was walking back from a party in the early hours of the morning with a few friends. It was the first time he had drunk alcohol and it did not mix with his medication, so he became impulsive and muddled. The group came across a milkman on his rounds and surrounded the float, shouting at the milkman. A crate of milk was smashed. Police arrived and arrested Matthew, who had led events. As this was his first offence, he received a Final Warning. The police officer at the YOT arranged a conference with the agreement of the victim and the offender. At the conference Matthew said he was ashamed and sorry for what he had done and listened as the milkman explained the economics of milk delivery, in which he had to pay for the lost milk. Matthew had already offered to pay for this and had brought £20 along with him. As discussions continued, all animosity disappeared and the conference ended with the milkman offering Matthew a part-time job.

Restorative justice is also on offer in some prisons and in many schools, where fights and disputes can be dealt with by mediators who bring everyone together to sort out the best way for all of dealing with what has happened. In some schools students are trained as peer mediators to help with playground quarrels. Restorative justice can also be practised in everyday life: rather than focusing on punishment, the emphasis is on dialogue and putting things right as soon as possible.

Quakers have contributed specifically in many ways. They advocated restorative justice long before it was fashionable in other quarters. There were statements by the Committee for Criminal Justice of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting in 1989 and by Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC), an international Quaker organisation, in 1990. There have been two Swarthmore Lectures (the annual lecture given to Quakers in Britain) on the topic, Mending Hurts (John Lampen 1987) and Forgiving Justice (Tim Newell 2000).

They have been busy trying to influence policy. The Crime and Community Justice Group of British Quakers sought to engage with ministers from the Ministry of Justice to speak about restorative justice. Two representatives from FWCC regularly attend the UN Crime Commission in Vienna, and in 2002 they talked informally to government delegates to help them pass a UN resolution on restorative justice.

Often Quakers have the courage and drive to start new initiatives and, when they are running successfully, hand them over to others to take forward. Among such initiatives are the Alternatives to Violence Project (see Far more than pacifism on page 20), many Community Mediation Services and Peer Mediation in schools. The latest such venture is the founding of the Circles of Support and Accountability (now Circles UK) for sex offenders, in which volunteers befriend sex offenders to ensure they stay away from further offending.

And many Quakers are involved, through paid or voluntary work, in putting restorative justice into practice. Individual Quakers are mediators in community, school and victim-offender mediation; help with victim support; work with offenders in the community and in prisons; work with national organisations such as the Restorative Justice Consortium and the Prison Reform Trust.

All this work comes back to trying to heal the harm done and help people find a better way forward, which are the tasks of restorative justice.

Marian Liebmann is a member of Bristol Area Quaker Meeting. Her latest books are Art Therapy for Groups and Art Therapy and Anger.

Restorative Justice Consortium

Youth Offending Teams

UN Crime Commission

Crime, Community & Justice Group of British Quakers

Friends World Committee for Consultation

Prison Reform Trust

Marian Liebmann


 


This week's .pdf
In this week's online edition... rss edition
cover

Dear visitor
Judy Kirby, editor, the Friend
The poetry of silence and the prose of action
Kevin Franz
The spiritual path for me?
Ron Kentish
What about Hitler?
Geoffrey Carnall
Why I came to the Meeting house
Sibyl Ruth
Why I love Meeting for Worship
Bob Johnson
Recharging our Quaker batteries
Harriet Hart
Loving the Spirit of the Age
Laurie Michaelis
Give Jesus a promotion!
David Boulton
Jesus and me
Paul Oestreicher
Restorative justice
Marian Liebmann
‘Our Lives’: working in disadvantaged communities
Rowena Loverance
Conciliation behind the scenes
Oliver Robertson
Far more than pacifism
Rosemary Hartill
On being a Quaker artist
Rowena Loverance
q-eye
eye@thefriend.org

Advertisements
Things to do, where to stay, people to see etc...

download this issue

save this page

most recent comments:
Letters, Ala
Quaker approach to business under the spotlight, David Hitchin
Tackling the pay gap from both ends, anonymous poster
Some more equal than others?, anonymous poster
Climate Camp experience, Frances Laing
Climate Camp experience, Frances Laing
The centrality of worship, Andrew Hatton, Maldon LM, Essex
In the care of the Meeting?, chrissie hinde
Lockerbie grief and justice, Jennifer Barraclough
The centrality of worship, Peter Arnold
The top ten reasons (plus three) why bottled water is a blessing, Fee Berry
Letters, David Hitchin
Marriage and committed relationships, Fee Berry
George Fox and same gender partnership, Chris Bagley
Marriage and committed relationships, Chris Bagley
Meeting for meditation?, Barry
Meeting for ‘weorthscipe’?, Gerard Guiton
Report shows that all is not well in multicultural Britain, chrissie hinde
Johann Sebastian Bach and the Jews, Peter Arnold
Prisons: our growth industry, Peer Arnold

Save on your phone bills with:
the phone co-op - your voice counts