The promise, the challenge Restorative justice for victims Restorative Justice Symposium Colorado Springs 2010 Howard Zehr.
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The promise, the challenge
Restorative justice for victimsRestorative Justice Symposium
Colorado Springs 2010
Howard Zehr
Terminology?
Restore?
Repair?
Recover?
Lynn Shiner
I can’t reorder anything because if I did, I would just pick up the scrambled pieces and put them back in order. It’s more like all the rungs on a ladder are removed. I’m at the bottom and have to start over.
Closure?
“I hate that term with a purple passion…I don’t see closure coming…. you are never closed with what happened.” - Pam Ayers
“I think the reason people use the word “closure is to give people like us hope…but a happy ending is just not going to happen.” - Robert Ayers
Transcendence to rise above or go beyond the limits of .... to triumph over the negative or restrictive
aspects of .... to rise above or extend notably beyond
ordinary limits
Vaclev Havel:“transcendence is the only alternative to extinction”
Transcendence
begins in trauma
Crime is traumatic
Stress Trauma PTSD
For “minor”…as well as …“serious” offenses
Traumatic Crises
A world gone wrong….
“…a profoundly political state in which
the world has gone wrong,
in which you feel isolated from the broader community
by the inarticulatable extremity of experience.”
-Bruce Shapiro, survivor of violent attack
The Three “D’s”
• Disorder
• Dis-empowerment
• Disconnection
Old issues must be revisited:
• Empowerment
• Connection & Identity
• Order
A series of journeys:
• Journey toward meaning
• Journey toward honor
• Journey toward vindication
• Journey toward justice
Re-storying
• Creating new meaning
• Drawing boundaries, incorporating painful experiences
• Finding new metaphors
• Transforming humiliation into honor
Vindication
• Removing shame & humiliation
• Making moral judgements - assessing/assuming responsibility
• Balancing the scale (“getting even” as a basic need for reciprocity)
Trauma Healing Journey: Breaking the Cycles
Act of “justified aggression” in the name of self defense
Physiological changesTrauma: shock, injury, pain,
denial
Realization of loss - panic
Anger – why me?Shame, humiliation,
survivor’s guilt
Suppression of grief, fears
Loss of meaning (Learned) helplessness
Desire for justice and vindication Fantasies
of revenge
Development of Good versus Evil narrative/ Dehumanization of
the enemy
MourningGrieving
Accept LossName/confront fears
“Why them?”Understanding root causes
Rehumanize the aggressor/ enemyFacing own/group shortcomings*
Engaging “the other” (or society if the offender is not available).
Choosing to forgive
Establishing justice:Reviewing History:
Reconstructing a meaningful narrative together
Negotiating solutionsJoint Planning
Establishing justice Admitting guiltPublic apology
Restitution“Creative Justice”
Possibility of reconciliation
ToleranceCoexistence
Interconnectedness
Breaking Free
Integrating Trauma into new self/group identity
Aggression(begin here)
Copyright © 2004 Eastern Mennonite University, Adapted from model by Olga Botcharova
Committing to take risks
#1 TRAUMATIC EVENT(S)ACT(S) OF
AGGRESSION
#2 Physiological changes
#3 Shock, injury, denial, anxiety, fear
#6 Anger, Rage Spiritual questions
Loss of meaning
#5 Suppression of grief and fears —numbing,
isolation
#7 Survivor guilt, Shame and humiliation#8 Learned
helplessness
#7 Social and cultural pressures, pride.#6 Decision to pursue
own needs,even at the expense of others
#4 Dehumanization of the enemy
#3 Development of good-vs.- evil narrative
#2 Unmet needs for safety and justice -- shame, humiliation,
fear
#5 Seeing violence as redemptive
Enemy/AggressorCycle
#1 Seeing self/group as victims, increased group
identity
#4 Realization of loss – panic
#8 Attack in the name of self-defense, justice
or restoring honor
#9 Re-experiencing events, intrusive thoughts, avoiding reminders, hypervigilence
#10 Fantasies of revengeNeed for justice
Survivor/VictimCycle
the offender/victim cycles go on and on
Copyright © 2004 Eastern Mennonite University
Justice needs
•Safety
Justice needs
• Safety
•Information - answers
Justice needs
• Safety
• Information – answers
•Truth-telling
Justice needs
• Safety
• Information – answers
• Truth-telling
•Empowerment
Justice needs
• Safety• Information – answers
• Truth-telling• Empowerment
•Vindication & validation
Does criminal justice deliver?
“If one set out to design a system for provoking intrusive post-traumatic symptoms, one could not do better than a court of law.” - Judith Lewis Herman
Restorative Justice asks
What does
Justice require?
Restorative justice assumptions
1. When people are hurt, meeting their needs is first priority.
2. Harms create obligations. Those who are responsible are obligated to make things as right as possible.
3. Those involved in or impacted by the harm should be involved in the resolution.
Another way: when wrongs occur, we…
• Address the harms caused by, and revealed by, the wrong.
• Identify the resulting obligations and responsibilities to repair the harms.
• Involve those who have a stake in the resolution.
Restorative justice is NOT
• Forgiveness
• Reconciliation
Restorative justice IS about
• Needs
• Obligations
• Process/engagement
RJ is needs –focused more than deserts focused
In theory, then
RJ starts with victims/survivors
“RJ addresses offender needs by focusing on victims” – Mary Achilles
Will restorative justice deliver?
-In principle: restorative justice is victim-oriented
-In practice: research is very promisinghigh restitution rates
high degrees of satisfaction
reduced fear and trauma
Sherman & Strang 2007
“The evidence consistently suggests that
victims benefit, on the average, from face to
face RJ conferences.”
“…when victims willing meet offenders face to face, they obtain short-term benefits for their mental health by reduced post-traumatic stress systems (PTSS). This may, in turn, reduce their lifetime risks of coronary disease…as well as reducing health costs paid by taxpayers.”
“Furthermore, available evidence shows that these victims are far more satisfied than their counterparts whose cases are dealt with in the formal justice system.”
The challenges:
Are victims as central as we claim?
The challenges:
Are victims as central as we claim?
Are we as responsive, collaborative, accountable as we promise?
The challenges:
Are victims as central as we claim?
Are we as responsive, collaborative, accountable as we promise?
Is RJ the “same wolf but in sheep’s clothing?”
Some guidelines or signposts:
Are victims & their advocates represented on planning groups and boards?
Some guidelines or signposts:
Are victims & their advocates represented on planning groups and boards?
Is the desire to help victims genuine, or motivated by a desire to help offenders or the system?
Some guidelines or signposts:
Are victims & their advocates represented on planning groups and boards?
Is the desire to help victims genuine, or motivated by a desire to help offenders or the system?
Are victims’ judicial needs truly addressed in our programs?
Some guidelines or signposts:
Are victims & their advocates represented on planning groups and boards?
Is the desire to help victims genuine, or motivated by a desire to help offenders or the system?
Are victims’ judicial needs truly addressed in our programs?
Are victims given the information, opportunity and resources to define their needs and make choices?
Some guidelines or signposts:
Are victims & their advocates represented on planning groups and boards?
Is the desire to help victims genuine, or motivated by a desire to help offenders?
Are victims given the information, opportunity and resources to define their needs and make choices?
Are victims’ judicial needs truly addressed in our programs?
Are there services to victims, regardless of whether an offender is identified or cooperative?
The bottom line….
We must be truly accountable to
our principles
and the “stakeholders” -
victims, offenders, communities
3 approaches
for system-wide improvement
Option 1
Work within the existing system
to maximize options
Option 2
Susan Herman:
Parallel Justice for Victims
Option 3
Retain the best of the existing system but making it more restorative
Reframe justice away from the crime control vs due process polarities
The crime control orientation
• Order and security above freedom and due process
• Focus on quick and certain punishment
• Minimize due process obstacles
The due process orientation
• Personal freedom trumps order
• Protect individuals from mistake and abuse of state power through due process protections
In common
• Focus on punishment rather than repair
• Focus on defendants (offenders) rather than victims
• IE the central question in both: What punishment does the offender deserve?
• Griffiths: a “battle model” – win/lose
Restorative justice : a third way?
Justice that focuses on
repair and responsibility,
on repairing and reducing harm,
concerned about victims as well as offenders
Restorative justice...
• Is not just about encounter……
• Is a way of looking at wrongdoing that emphasizes repair of harm and accountability of wrongdoers
Changing questions
• Who has been hurt?
• What are their needs?
• What are the causes?
• Whose obligations are these?
• Who has a “stake” in this?
• What is the process to involve them in making right the wrongs?
A compass – not a map
Transcendence is possible
It has taken me a long time, but I think it is important for people to know that I’m happy. That’s a hard thing to say but I’m happy. I am at peace.
“transcendence is theonly alternative to extinction”
Vaclev Havel
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