10 years ago the Thames Valley Police pioneered “Restorative Justice”, with the aim of giving every victim an opportunity to meet the perpetrator of the crime against them. Celebrating 10 years of development we had the opportunity to meet a man, lets call him Pete, who had spent most of his adult life in prison. We also met Dave, who told us that coming back one night he found an intruder in his house, whom he fought and finally got arrested. This intruder, Pete, and Dave were brought together-not very easily. Pete said that at the time he would far rather have gone straight to the Old Bailey and prison, for at least he knew where he was there, rather than face his victim. At the meeting Pete began by saying “When we last met”. This casual reference, as though they had met in a pub, so infuriated Dave, that it unleashed a torrent of emotion about how he had felt about having his house broken into, and how every time he had gone through his door since, he had wondered if there would be an intruder. In response to this Pete said, that for the first time in his life, he had felt a victim’s pain. He had done hundreds of crimes, mainly for drugs, and never given his victims a thought, but now, experiencing the pain of one of them, as he put it “Blew him”.
It cannot have been easy after that, but he got himself off heroin, went to college, and for the first time in his life did a job.
Bishop Harries does a good job of focusing ethical issues. I appreciate this, but does he have equal passion for proclaiming the Gospel? Does he spend any of his time in direct ministry?
We have an extensive restorative justice system here – particularly for young people — and all I can say is that the last paragraph needs to be emphasised. Sometimes it is life changing for all involved — but on other occasions it doesn’t make a blind bit of difference. In other words, it is worth a go — but that is all it is worth. It is not a miracle cure.
“It is what the Bible calls, hell-not a place to which God sends us, but making ourselves permanently impervious to our effect on others.”
Not in any Bible I know of.
I agree with MargaretG. We should certainly try ‘restorative justice’ (not sure if the term ‘justice’ here is really right), but I wouldn’t know if it was the right way for victims who had been seriously physically, sexually abused.
After reading this story, it is heartening to see how the Gospel is true – how it changes lives. And people don’t even know it. This is Jesus, alive, confronting people and changing them.
Amazing.
Good grief, Alice #1, this was an article about a particular ministry. And it is, IMHO, a Gospel-based ministry. What, in your thoughts, is “direct ministry”? And why infer that +Harries neglects the sick, the dying, preaching, Bible study, and (it goes with the territory) prayerful administration?
Working in the criminal justice field these last 9 years, I’ve encountered a lot of “restorative justice” types. They tend to be evangelical Christians and a lot are (no surprise) very into black church culture. I have personally worked closely with some of the folks who have interests in sex offenders (who are the largest part of my caseload) and have been very impressed. This is “faith-based” social services, which, at the local level, has a lot to recommend it. As someone noted above, this isn’t a magic pill that cures criminality: a few RJ folks are hopelessly naive and enabling, though not many of them (naivete is not a survival behavior). Some regard “the system” as the problem, and the convicted felon the victim, which is to say, they bring dysfunctional family dynamics into their ministry. This is no surprise, but not overly helpful. On the whole, however, restorative justice is a very positive way out of the punishment/rehabilitation conundrum.
One point: RJ, at least in my area, focuses as much, or more, on “re-entry” as the victim/perpetrator relationship. That is, we are interested in restoring previously incarcerated persons to their communities. This involves work with housing, jobs, drug treatment, jobs, some adult education, jobs, social services, and, finally, jobs. Did I mention the importance of having a job? Re-entry also involves accountability through the parole system for persons on parole and helping families hold their loved ones accountable in all cases. This entire set of activities, and others, can fall under the umbrella of “restorative justice”.
And the gospel? Two points, the first being the old saw: preach the gospel at all times, use words when necessary. Second, it the church – the congregation, the Christian home, the ministry – where folks encounter the community. Jail house religion (I see a fair share of it) gets a well-deserved bad rap, but there is something that sticks. In the church, they hear that Jesus loves them and has a way for them to live a life without crime. They can develop real relationships. Often, they even find a job. 🙂
[b]”Preach the gospel at all times, use words when necessary.”[/b]
Correct citation: St. Francis of Assisi.