CRJI receive Investors in People Award

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Kate Pickering & Jim McCarthy collected the IIP Plaque and Certificate on behalf of CRJI at a presentation in Hillsborough Castle. CRJI become recognised in March 2012 and will continue to work to develop good practice within the organisation.

Meeting ‘The Standard’ is a big achievement for The Board of Directors, Senior Management Team, Managers, Staff and Volunteer Practitioners. Collectively we are committed to the continuous improvement/development of CRJI and will work to gain the Bronze, Silver and Gold Awards.

Harry Maguire CRJI Director said" the purpose of CRJI moving in this direction and attaining the IIP award is about us building capacity in both our processes and personnel which ultimately means delivery of better services in the communities in which we work"

 

Time for Solutions

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 23rd July 2012

Just home from meeting tonight at Belfast Castle where a community safety event took place. In attendance was the Police, Youth Justice Agency, City Council workers and of-course hard pressed residents. I was there after being invited by a colleague who is a resident but also a member of the newly formed Policing and Community Safety Partnership, so I was there to listen.

As usual the issues were predictable but nonetheless real, especially in terms of the impact on the quality of life of the residents. If I had closed my eyes I could have been in a venue in any part of the city and the conversation would have been similar.

The perennial issues of youth drinking and the associated behaviours featured heavily as did the gathering points for young people and the intimidation felt by local residents who are having various missiles hurled at their homes on a weekly basis.

What is clear about the issues raised is that there are no easy solutions, in fact the frustration in the room was palpable and what was clear is that some residents are at the end of their tether. That's because we are talking about low level anti community behaviour that tends to impact on only those it directly touches but which can have a very high impact on those people. It was clear the residents most effected had been the victims of someone else’s success as on numerous occasions we heard from the police and other residents that the group of young people and their behaviour was being displaced rather than dealt with on a regular basis. The idea of displacing the problem and moving it on is a common outcome of many of the approaches to these types of issues as they, the “solution” very often doesn’t challenge the behaviour that makes so many peoples lives a misery. This is what we need to start and achieve if we are to truly get to grips with these issues.

Education, personal development, mentoring, youth services and restorative dialogues could form some of the responses. Equally support for communities from statutory agencies particularly around the engagement of parents and the inclusion of those stakeholders in problem solving conversations and approaches. Law enforcement also has a part to play in that keeping residents safe is vital and interventions will be needed for specific behaviours but also in terms of dealing with the irresponsible sale of alcohol to young people, that of course means challenging big business. It’s high time that the alcohol business lived up to their responsibility to the wider community and rather than prosecuting young people for street drinking prosecute those who sell alcohol illegally.

Equally there should be a framework for residents to engage with these young people around the relevant issues and how best to deal with the issues in sensible manner. Residents in my view need to develop tolerance for young people, as many of the youth are engaging in nothing more than nuisance behaviour in a way that is not malicious and most certainly not criminal.

The keys to these issues are in my view to be found in a restorative dialogue, working together and to see the statutory sector as enablers to do this. Where appropriate police enforcement is needed, design out crime initiatives welcome, a hotspot template created and developing positive alternatives to the street corner culture that these youth have bought into like so many across the city.

Mediation and Local Knowledge - A Note From the Director

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Over the last few weeks, CRJI workers and voluntary practitioners have been involved in delivering mediation services within the community. This dialogue process is a key method for solving many different types of community disputes and it’s great to be present during the sessions.

The value of having the mediation facilitated by local people is huge. People from the community who are in dispute are often unsure of the process they are about to embark on and having someone known to them or known in the community for this type of work is settling.

Many people have concerns about mediation, such as who are the mediators? How does it work? Will it work and concerns for their own safety. This is were the local practitioner comes into their own as they very often have some sort of relationship with the clients, either directly or indirectly and are able to put their concerns in context. Of course the major focus for participants in pre mediation meetings is the constant questions about the “other side”. This for an experienced mediator opens the door for discussion and being able to begin the process of building confidence. The questions often fired at mediators are indeed in reality the questions that each party need to be asking within the framework of mediation, once the parties begin to grasp this they start to warm to the whole idea of sitting down together.

Over the years I have had the privilege of facilitating mediations across Belfast and wider afield. In each occasion I have been impressed at the dignity that people display, particularly those who have been clearly harmed. The process has always given me something, new learning, new insights, better understanding of people and a renewal in the capacity of people to repair and restore their own issues. It is really something to witness people having entered the mediation room as adversaries and leave not necessarily as friends but having achieved resolution to their issues and having begun to repair the damage done to their relationship through the dispute.

The local knowledge, experience and very often commitment of the local Restorative Justice practitioner can often be a deciding factor of assisting people over the line of resolution as they employ their greatest skill of all, trust in the process, trust in their own abilities and above all trust in the people who are in dispute.

CRJI at South Inner City Community Development Association Celebrations

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CRJI director Harry Maguire travelled to Dublin on 5^th July 2012 to speak at a Seminar organized as part South Inner City Community Development Association’s 30^th year celebration. 

The event was in keeping with some of the work we have been engaged in over the last few months that has been very much island focused. Firstly CRJI Newry & South Armagh have been awarded funding by the Co Louth Peace and Reconciliation Partnership that has been the first of its kind for CRJI. 

This is a first step for us as we seek to build relationships in different areas of the Island of Ireland. In keeping with this theme we have been engaged with the Restorative Justice Forum (NI) in developing an all island event that would be focused on raising awareness around the extent and use of Restorative Practice across a wide and varied range of society. 

Now to return to our Dublin trip we again took the opportunity to engage with like-minded people who wish to build restorative practice in their communities. We also met RJ practitioners from Belgium, Italy and S. Africa. Watch this space.

New CRJI Blog - Welcome!

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This is the official blog for Community Restorative Justice Ireland.  We hope that our content will be useful to those who are interested or those actually involved in developing Restorative Justice Practice. 

We are firmly rooted in the community aspect of restorative practice and while we are involved in delivering RJ practice over a broad range of issues we understand that there needs to be a strategic approach as to how we build restorative communities that are responsive and tolerant of and to the issues that blight many urban areas in the modern world. 

We often say that across Europe it is easy to identify the same issues of crime and anti- social behaviour that impact on the quality of life of many of the citizens thereof. While the underpinning causes of the crime and anti social behaviour must remain a focus for those who have responsibility to deliver and build a more equitable society there still remains a need for our societies to deal with many of our conflictual issues through the use of restorative justice practice which is value based and people centred. 

We in CRJI feel that this is our mission and we are hopeful to connect with like-minded people and organisations. 

Please visit our main website at:

http://crji.ie/

And remember to follow us on Twitter:

@crjicentral