What is REAL JUSTICE conferencing?
by Jim Mustin
"As Larry walked and spoke and gestured, his impaired functions were starkly demonstrated. The four offenders began to realize the damage they had done to another human being. One of them began to cry. Feelings are contagious and soon all four offenders offered tearful apologies to the injured boy and his parents. Larry and his parents, moved by the sincerity of the four youths, readily offered their forgiveness.
The probation officer watched in amazement as the conference process worked its magic. The four offenders, long detached from the reality of their crime, faced what they had done and repented. Larry, until now obsessed with thoughts of revenge, and his parents freed themselves from anger and put closure on a horrible episode in their lives."
- from REAL JUSTICE by Ted Wachtel.
REAL JUSTICE conferences originated as a response to juvenile crime, Also called family group conferences, restorative justice conferences and community accountability conferences, the process is a new victim-sensitive approach to addressing wrongdoing.
A variety of uses
• Conferencing can be employed by schools in response to truancy, disciplinary incidents, including violence, or as a prevention strategy in the form of role plays of conferences with primary and elementary school students.
• Police can use conferences as a warning or diversion from court, especially with first-time offenders.
• Courts may use conferencing as a diversion, an alternative sentencing process, or a healing event for victims and offenders after the court process is concluded.
• Juvenile and adult probation officers may respond to various probation violations with conferences.
• Correctional and treatment facilities will find that conferences resolve the underlying issues and tensions in conflicts and disciplinary actions.
• Colleges and universities can use conferences with dormitory and campus incidents and disciplinary violations.
• In workplaces conferencing addresses both wrongdoing and conflict.
"Two boys sprayed a whole can of pepper mace on classroom door handles in a high school hallway. The odor was so pervasive that hundreds of students were evacuated from the building, with some students and faculty experiencing serious allergic reactions to the caustic fumes. The police had been contacted, so when the two youths were discovered and admitted their offense, the normal administrative response would have been to press criminal charges and suspend or possibly expel the students. Instead a school district social worker who had been advocating for REAL JUSTICE was invited to facilitate a family group conference with parents, faculty who had to evacuate the building and school administrators, who all felt very much victimized by the youths' actions. The formal outcome of the conference included written apologies and community service work for both youths.
The informal outcome was of greater significance, as expressed by the assistant principal whom I interviewed many weeks after the event. As the school disciplinarian, he acknowledged that he had dealt with the boys before, one in particular. He felt that the boy never fully appreciated how he affected other people with his previous misconduct. He was extremely pleased with the conference and believed, not only that the boys were genuinely remorseful, but also that they really understood the harm they had done to a great many people. He reported that all of the administrators and faculty were pleased to have had an opportunity to vent their feelings. The conference had satisfactorily resolved the matter."
- from REAL JUSTICE by Ted Wachtel
Repairing the harm
A conference is a structured meeting between offenders, victims and both parties' family and friends in which they deal with the consequences of the crime and decide how best to repair the harm. Neither a counseling nor a mediation process, conferencing is a straightforward problem-solving method that demonstrates how citizens can resolve problems when provided with a constructive forum.
Conferences let victims and others to confront the offender, express their feelings, ask questions and have a say in the outcome. Offenders hear firsthand how their behavior has affected people. They may begin to repair the harm by apologizing, making amends and agreeing to financial restitution or personal or community service work. Conferences hold offenders accountable while allowing them to discard the "offender" label and be reintegrated into their community, school or workplace.
A scripted process
Participation in conferences is voluntary. After determining that a conference is appropriate and offenders and victims agree to attend, the conference facilitator invites others affected by the incident--the family and friends of victims and offenders.
A REAL JUSTICE conference can be used in lieu of traditional disciplinary or justice processes, or where that is not appropriate, as a supplement to those processes.
Conference facilitators stick to a simple script and keep the conference on focus, but are not active participants. A conference is far more productive and rewarding than the current means of responding to wrongdoing.
In the conference the facilitator asks the offenders to tell what they did and what they were thinking when they did it. The facilitator then asks victims and their family members and friends to tell the incident from their perspective and how it affected them. The offenders' family and friends are asked to do the same.
Finally the victim is asked what he or she would like to be the outcome of the conference. The response is discussed with the offender and everyone else at the conference. When agreement is reached, a simple contract is written and signed.
Positive results
Since the first REAL JUSTICE trainings in March 1995, people have experienced positive results with conferencing. A two-year study of conferencing showed almost universal satisfaction with conferencing among victims, offenders and offenders' families; 94 percent of offenders complied with commitments they made to victims in conferences; and victims who participated in conferences were more likely to say the offender was held accountable, compared to victims whose cases went to court.
Conferencing started in New Zealand in 1989, was adapted by Australian police in 1991 and was first used by Australian educators in 1994. Since 1995, REAL JUSTICE has been a non-profit provider of conferencing training, technical assistance, books and videos.
Contact Real Justice at P.O. Box 229, Bethlehem, PA 18016-0229, Phone: (610) 807-9221, FAX: (610) 807-0423, usa@realjustice.org, http://www.realjustice.org. |
