Restorative Practice and Education

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CRJI have spent the last week compiling a training programme for the introduction of Restorative practice in a school in Dublin City. It is some years since CRJI worked full time within the school setting culminating in a written account of the three-year project in a publication called Beyond the Three R’s. The title is a bit of a give away as we believe that not only should the school curriculum focus on the Three R’s of reading, writing and arithmetic but also on life skills such as conflict management and problem solving. We also believe that the best results in doing this can be achieved by the use of restorative approaches.

There are now countless publications, training organisations and aids when it comes to the subject of restorative justice in schools, not to mention the endless list of consultants who will leave you spellbound on the subject. However, we at CRJI like to take a much simpler view of it all and start with the greatest gift that restorative justice can give us, a value base.

Restorative practice is underpinned, informed and shaped by a value base of eight key components. These are participation, interconnectedness, honesty, humility, respect, accountability, hope and empowerment. Employing these values will quickly send out the message that the school that does this creates a single focus by saying that  “we are a school that values people”. This in turn will see an increase in academic activity for if pupils, parents and staff feel valued then they embrace the wider project of working together to educate our children.

Restorative Justice approaches will also help to develop schools as listening and feeling schools, thus building an environment where people matter, that it is important to put people first and when dealing with issues that have harmed people the restoration of relationships is a key element of the restorative process. This of itself is an education process as we promote new ways of dealing with harm by employing the restorative paradigm.

The restorative paradigm rather than focus on rule breaking looks to what has happened, who has been harmed and how we repair this harm. Again this puts people at the heart of a process while also empowering them to play a central role in the resolution. The empowerment of people should also be a focus of education.

What other benefits are there when we introduce these practices in the school setting? There are different models of school practice, well documented and articulated. In the case of the Dublin school we are looking at developing a Restorative Peer Mediation initiative which will also mean a certain amount of buy in from not only pupils but from staff who will need to be part of the project.

We would hope that this would become a first step for the school as they embrace the restorative values and concepts. CRJI would prefer that schools go for a whole school approach thus deepening and broadening the opportunities and potential positive outcomes. However RJ is people centric and the starting point of one will be different from another, what we really would like to see is the same destination being reached, a truly wholly inclusive way of problem solving which are underpinned by restorative values and processes. That would be something.

 

 

Piece written by Garrett Gorman - CRJI North Belfast

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“I thought if I killed myself then they would leave my

sons alone and my mum could raise them”

Thus ended a conversation between a local woman, her mother and the North Belfast CRJI coordinator. It’s a blunt calculation. But one that has a terrible logic to a lady driven to the brink of suicide by drug dealers. Seeing no way to pay off a drug debt or escape the clutches of a local team of dealers. Our client had tried to kill herself; clinging to the hope that the threats to her children would end when her life did.

It’s not a unique story. The North Belfast office has dealt with many such cases. Sometimes all family possessions are sold and the debt (including the interest charged) is paid. Other times the family flees their home and community. And occasionally the suicide attempt is successful and homes are devastated by the loss of a father, mother, son or daughter. Experience tells us that in the case of the latter the dealers simply transfer the debt to surviving family members and the intimidation continues unabated.

Cases such as these are encountered by CRJI staff across Belfast, Derry, Newry and Armagh. Also working for some sort of resolution to this issue are suicide prevention organisations such as PIPS and a range of other drug and community groups.

As we have discovered in North Belfast there is no easy answer to the problem of drug dealing, addiction, debts, threats and ruined lives that inevitably follows in its wake. For our part we ensure every shred of information the community gives us about these dealers and those driving people to the brink of suicide is passed to the police – along with a demand for robust action to be taken. We refer those attempting or contemplating suicide to PIPS and, when requested, work with housing providers and other relevant agencies to get those under threat to a place of safety. 

While this intervention may help our clients – it is by no means a panacea to the growing problem of suicide due to drug debts. Much more needs to be done. CRJI does not have all the answers and we believe that there needs to be a coming together of those with a duty to these families. Our community needs these dealers in jail and off the backs of our most vulnerable members. Families and individuals under threat need support to prevent them even considering suicide as an option. Even dealers who are addicts themselves need help, support and treatment.

This tragic scenario is played out in every community across Ireland, Britain, Europe and beyond where drug dealers have a foothold. If we want to effectively address it here in Belfast, or Derry, Newry and Armagh then maybe we need to gather our partners and devise a more coordinated response. It’s certainly a daunting task. But CRJI remains ready to work with any and all statutory, voluntary and community organisations to prevent more names joining the list of those we have already lost through suicide and drugs.

The Long Road

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CRJI attended the preview of a play on Tuesday 2^nd October at the Lyric Theatre. We had been invited through our work as CRJI practitioners given that the play would deal with some issues around the use of Restorative Practice. The event was well worth the effort, the play was first and for most an enjoyable piece of performance art but more importantly highlighted the issues for a family after the violent murder of their son.

The family issues were something I felt would immediately catch the focus, particularly for those who encounter people who have been badly affected by crime and it’s aftermath. The play drew out the relevant and sometimes poignant questions.

The offender was also well portrayed with a little more stereotypical context but nonetheless recognizable as people we would know.

The middle person was somewhat different from what we who work in the restorative field recognise but the centrality of trying to create a space for a victim offender encounter was underscored.

The plays big success for me was that it made you think. One of the lines ran something like “to understand is to change” change of course being a focus of restorative practice. If any thing the play should act as a platform in which to discuss the very important issues that are central to the play, they are issues that the Criminal Justice System grapples with day in day out and of course the introduction of the restorative paradigm creates a different viewpoint.

I would recommend that people go and see this play and enjoy the play for it’s own integrity, it’s script and the acting, you will get something out of the experience. For those interested in RJ and associated issues then the play will have a different resonance.

Speaking of resonance the play was called “The Long Road”, and as a colleague and myself attended we were accompanied by two serving police officers, yes folks, it has been a very long road.

Victims

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I watched the aftermath of the report on the Hillsborough Disaster and like many people could only think about the dignity of the victims through the many years of adversary they have faced. It brought memories of victim issues closer to home be they victims of State or the various Armed Group violence; there emerges a very clear picture of the commonalities shared by victims. I don’t mean to categorise all victims for we must recognise victims are individuals with individual responses to their own personal loss or injury. However what does emerge for me around these issues are victim needs rooted in their quest for acknowledgement, apology and accountability. I could give a list of the cases that are recognizable not by the individual victims but by place or geography and that list would be quite extensive.

How does this connect with the work of CRJI you might be asking? CRJI has worked with countless victims down through the years, from people who are affected by low-level ASB issues through to the victims of serious crime including murder. Our experience is victims have very often-different sets of questions to ask about what has just occurred than those asked from the perspective of a police or criminal justice view. Why me? Does the offender know what they have done? Will they acknowledge that? Will I be safe in the future? Will they do it to me again? This is all underpinned by the need to know,  be known and recognised. These common themes are universal and in a restorative manner are the questions that we feel are part of a process when working with victims. We acknowledge that the criminal justice system does what it does but in the area of victims the victims needs and concerns should be central to the overall process of resolution.

Our work in the community has witnessed the power of dialogue in the most extreme of cases, I have written previously on this, the powerful empowerment for a victim to see and hear their concerns being dealt with not only unlocks a pathway forward for the victim but equally for an offender who will be faced with the hard questions, recognition of hurt but more importantly the difficult potential to change. This potential in our view is in need of support, for the achievement of change for an offender not only benefits them but also the wider community and ensures no other victims from that quarter.

The other common theme around victims that I’ve seen is that victims can very often be stereotyped as people so badly injured that they appear frail and fearful, almost intimidated in submission by what has occurred. While this may be true in some cases, our experience of victims that having been frightened, hurt and injured is that they also display a remarkable level of endurance to seek both the answers they need while also demanding the acknowledgement of their situation. It is this for me, that join the burglary victim, the elderly who suffer so much from ASB with the high publicity victims who have displayed so much courage and integrity in their search for justice.

This brings me to what for many is the real issue, does society have the tools to deal with victims?  From a restorative perspective I would say no. This position derives from the knowledge that victims aren’t viewed as key in the criminal justice process; rather what is important is what law has been broken, by whom and what is the result of the criminal justice process. This is of course is a simplified version of a complex system but it is vital for the system to adopt and develop a restorative approach which will give victims a role in the justice process, which will also create the potential for offenders to face the consequences of their actions and above all create a threshold for both, victim and offender to cross and begin to see events from another place.

All Island Retorative Justice Conference set in motion

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Restorative Justice practice is happening the length and breadth on the island of Ireland. Be it in criminal justice, probation, the care sector, community projects, schools, courts and prisons, restorative techniques are being employed across a huge swath of society. That's the message I took from the meeting held in Ballybot House Newry.

The meeting, organized by the Restorative Justice Forum N.I. was aimed at investigating what was happening across the island in restorative justice and to see how practitioners felt about the possibility of an all island conference on RJ.

There was a good vibe in the room around the idea as presented by the Forums event subgroup.
As with all RJ gatherings a similar set of themes emerges, relationships, inclusivity, sharing and building seem to resonate and settle to be the foundations of a way forward. This is key when like-minded people start to plan an event that aims to promote and develop restorative practice across the island.

It was also refreshing to be in a room where people were speaking positively of their experience of restorative practice, there was no one to convince of the value of RJ as a model of good working practice. This was most refreshing as we went straight to business, discussion followed by agreement followed by discussion and further agreement. Believe me that’s how it went, a good day’s work done and by the end of the session a very clear picture was emerging of what the event will look like.
So now for the hard work, the conference content, the meat in the proverbial sandwich. There was however some good suggestions on this and even more so on the idea of joint presenters highlighting the difference in RJ practices across the island. This may be done in a north/south basis that will really throw up the gaps and difference.

There was also much discussion on what and who should our target audience be? Again we felt we should look to invite practitioners who will have a wealth of knowledge but also legislator’s who at the end of the day help to create the legal framework in which RJ is located within a variety of fields. I think it crucial that we seek to influence those people who can with our experience put RJ up the agenda thus ensuring that we really are starting to build.

A key discussion was the choice of a keynote speaker. No agreement on this one yet although some very solid suggestions in the hat both from an international view through to more home-grown talent.
This was another theme from today’s event, the theme that said that we are well-developed in our knowledge and skill base in using RJ practice. This demonstrates an underlying confidence in what and how we have been doing things and this augur’s well for the future.

Finishing up we have committed to the event, some of the agenda, the venue and future meetings to plan the event further still. I can hardly wait for the event itself; it will make a change to be staying on home soil for an RJ conference, that’s a change in itself.

Power of Dialogue

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Many people find the concept of Restorative Justice difficult to grasp simply because they have never felt or experienced that moment when a word, a gesture or an acknowledgment makes such an impact that it changes their situation irrevocably. For those of us who have been privileged to be present during Restorative Justice sessions, be it RJ Mediation, Circles or Restorative Conversations the power of dialogue shines through.

Like all conflict situations that are fraught with the given's and of course the unknown’s a certain tension is automatically introduced into the equation, how will the other party respond? Will they be honest? Will they abuse the opportunity to restore and resolve and importantly will they acknowledge what has happened? These of course are the central elements of the conversation that parties, sorry, fellow human beings need to ask of each other when they have been injured and wronged. Sometimes the injured is also the wrongdoer, that makes for a complex dialogue but first and foremost they are human, with all that goes with that.

Being present to facilitate these difficult conversations develop and get to the real issues has exposed R.J. practitioners to the absolute power of dialogue. We have witnessed what at times seemed to be intractable problems being quickly transformed by that moment, by that conscious action which say’s I know, I now understand, I am walking in your space and I feel what you felt and I want to put it right.

These are the moments when acknowledgement of hurt, injury and wrongdoing occur, the moments that open up the possibility of resolution, the creation of a threshold that the victim can then decide to cross and accept the acknowledgement for what it is. This is a crucial stage in a restorative process as the wrongdoer awaits acknowledgement of what they have said to put things right.

Putting things right is an age-old idea, from the parent of a young child who accidentally smashes a window and that parent goes and replaces the window thus putting it right. This of-course applies across life’s experience when something has happened and when someone has been injured the driving need to put it right if given the opportunity is a very basic human need.

I recently watched a film, Beyond Conviction, in which serious offenders met with victims and family of victims and that need to put things right was clearly evident and visible to the human eye. None of us need to be specially trained to be open to this.

So for me when talking about Restorative Justice I believe it is important we speak in human terms, about feelings, emotions and yes, putting it right because to put things right means to fully engage and live up to the responsibility to do just that, putting it right and sure can’t we all get that.

July policing under the spotlight at Ardoyne meeting

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CRJI took part in a multi-agency meeting held today at Holy Cross hall, Ardoyne which looked at problems in the policing of the recent July 12th Orange parade through the area.

There was a protest held by around 30 people outside the venue protesting at the PSNI’s presence at the meetings. The protest was entirely  peaceful and relatives of two local men from the area recently jailed handed out letters outlining their opposition to the meeting.

The meeting proceeded and the PSNI responded to a  number of concerns related to their policing of the July marching season and a number of protests and counter protests.

Residents had raised the firing of plastic bullets, differences in the policing of the nationalist and unionist communities, and the conduct of police during raids and searches carried out after July 12th during a heated multi agency meeting held in the hall a fortnight ago.

The PSNI today gave more information on a number of questions raised during that meeting. It was clear that the residents and community workers at today’s meeting feel that much more remains to be to be done.

Sinn Féin MLA Carál Ní Chuilín said her party had written to the Public Prosecution Service to find out how the community could be better informed on the issue of bail conditions and probation orders of known offenders.

Police then briefed the community on a number of successful drugs raids in Ardoyne and the Oldpark areas.

Residents then quizzed the Housing Executive about how they would proceed if anyone was found to be in breach of their tenancy by allowing drugs to be sold from their homes. The Executive representative outlined the procedures and said it would be writing to the police for a full report on the latest arrests.

There was also a discussion about ongoing problems facing residents suffering from anti-social behaviour coming from the Bone Hills area. Police said they had received a number of call-outs to the area close to the derelict Park Inn.

The Housing Executive gave commitments that it would look into delays in carrying out repairs to a number of homes in the area because of a change of contractor. This issue was raised by a resident from Jamaica Road as well as Oldpark Councillor Danny Lavery.

Residents from Jamaica/Havana said they would be organising a meeting with the Housing Executive and Belfast City Council around the proposed erection of a bollard in Jamaica St which some residents now say they are opposed to.

The bollard was originally demanded by residents to stop cars being used in a pedestrian area which could be dangerous for children.

The issue of horses running wild in the Ligoniel area was then raised. There were questions about the welfare of the animals in question.

However, serious concerns were raised about the safety of children living in an area of Ligoniel where the horses regularly gallop through unsupervised.

Police and the other relevant agencies committed to dealing with the problem.

The multi agency group will reconvene early next month.