Te Ara Whakatika

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Hawkes Bay woman Jackie Katounas has received an international restorative justice award for outstanding leadership in advancing the cause of justice and reconciliation in society.

Pre-conferencing 'Vital'

The amount of preparation carried out before a restorative justice conference can have a huge impact on the outcome for both the victim and offender, according to West Auckland facilitator Pat Atkinson.

"Pre-conferencing can be vital in helping victims who are feeling really hurt to tell their story," she says.

Pat works for the Waitakere Restorative Justice Community Group, and has facilitated more than 20 restorative justice conferences for the court-referred project.

"One of the things I've noticed is that if victims who are very angry at offenders have the chance to say all of that to the facilitator at pre-conference, it tends to diffuse the situation at the conference itself. Often that person has got a lot off his or her chest, so that when they come to the conference, they don't necessarily need to say all of that with such intensity against the offender. It means they are able to listen more to the offender and hear the remorse."

Pat says that the pre-conference process can also be helpful for offenders who have difficulty expressing themselves.

"We see many offenders who don't have a lot of good language skills, so their languaging of the event tends to be very limited. At pre-conference we often say to them that although facing up to their victim is a very courageous thing to do, the victim is going to need to hear them speak. Saying ‘I don't know what happened' is probably not going to do it for the victim."

Offenders are encouraged to practice telling their story, sometimes to their support person, so they can be more expressive once they get to the restorative justice conference.

"We tell offenders to expect that the victim might be very angry with them, and will want to tell them that. We assure them that it will be a safe process, but that we won't try to get the victim to edit what they are saying or be nice because of the process."

Pat (right) says that the dynamics always change when the victim and offender come face to face: "Very few conferences go exactly how I predict."

She contacts victims a couple of days after a conference to check that they are still feeling okay about the process.

"The majority of people seem to be satisfied, and some are very enthused. It has made a really big difference to them."

Facilitator Jay Clarke, who is based on Waiheke Island, says that, among other things, the success or failure of a restorative justice conference mostly depends on how the victim perceives it.

"How I as a facilitator could see something and how a victim takes it may be two different things. Sometimes I might think the offender is going through the motions, but if the victim is really getting something out of it, if they are feeling satisfied that at least they have met the offender as they wished, and they've heard from the offender and perhaps received some form of reparation or sincere apology, that is often all they need."

Jay works full-time as a mediator and part-time as a restorative justice facilitator.

"I enjoy assisting victims and offenders, which I don't usually get in my work as a mediator. Bringing families together in restorative justice is so rewarding."

He has facilitated approximately 30 restorative justice conferences over the last two years.

"I'm sometimes doubtful (at the beginning of a case) about bringing these people together because they seem to be so far apart. But I haven't had any cases where the families haven't benefited from this coming together."

International Award for Hawkes Bay Woman

Jackie Katounas, recently appointed project manager for Prison Fellowship New Zealand's restorative justice programme, has received the Kamil Shehade Award for restorative justice.

The Prison Fellowship International award, competed for by 96 countries, is granted in recognition of a prison fellowship leader or ministry for outstanding leadership in advancing the cause of justice and reconciliation in society.

"This is a major achievement," says New Zealand Prison Fellowship executive director Kim Workman.

"Only once in the past has it been awarded to an individual."

He said that Jackie's life story was a tribute to the power of repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation.

"As a career criminal with 138 previous convictions, Jackie's life changed when she received stolen furniture, only to realise that she knew the victim, a hotel owner who had been very good to her. Overcome with remorse, she went to the publican, asked for his forgiveness, and offered to get his property back. Without knowing it, Jackie had begun a journey which led to her involvement in the restorative justice movement and a commitment to the Christian faith. Today her life is unrecognisable to the one she led before."

Until recently, Jackie was a facilitator for the Hawkes Bay Restorative Justice Network, working with offenders at the regional prison. She extended her work in 2000, facilitating the Sycamore Tree programme at Hawkes Bay prison, and now trains others in the project management and facilitation of the programme.

Kim says that over the last three years, Jackie has become actively involved in the policy and programme development of restorative justice in New Zealand.

"She has become a public advocate and compelling speaker for the effectiveness of restorative justice, and has also designed a course in victim awareness, which she is piloting at the Hawkes Bay Prison."

Pictured left: Jackie Katounas receiving the award from Prison Fellowship International president Ron Nikkel.

Focus on Victims Provokes Discussion

An address by Waitakere Restorative Justice Community Group chair Chris Marshall about the responsibilities of churches towards the victims of crime provoked much discussion at Prison Fellowship of New Zealand's recent 20^th anniversary conference at Waikanae.

Prison Fellowship national director Kim Workman described the session on Restoring Victims as one of the most thoughtful and provocative of the conference.

Dr Marshall argued that, in many ways, the religious community "struggles to respond appropriately to the plight of victims of crime."

He quoted Howard Zehr, a leading international practitioner in the field, who has said that "the Church should be a place of refuge, but often we have not known how to listen, how to be present to victims. We have told them that their anger is wrong, that they need to move on, to forgive, to forget..."

Dr Marshall said that if the Christian community was to be more helpful, two things were needed:

"One is a recognition of how alienating to victims our natural coping mechanisms of detachment, blame and superficial pleasantries really are... The other requirement is a much fuller understanding of the distinctive needs and experiences of crime victims, including their need to lament."

He said that the challenge for churches was to "provide the kind of services and resources that will help victims cope with their trauma, both in the immediate aftermath of the offence and over the long haul.

"Organisations like Victim Support, Rape Crisis and Women's Refuges do excellent work in this respect, despite limited resources and volunteers. There is ample room for Christian involvement in such organisations, as well as for the development of church-based parallels."

Dr Marshall said that what victims often need most, if they are to deal adequately with the destructive legacy of their experience, is direct engagement with the one who has offended against them: "This is not widely recognised in the community, and many would deny it is true."

He said that restorative justice was one of the most promising recent developments in the legal system for furthering victims' rights. It deserved the full support of the Christian community, "for restorative justice is profoundly compatible with Christian values and beliefs."

Kim Workman said the discussion was "a starting point for us over the next couple of years to talk to the churches about their responsibilities to victims.

"It is interesting that churches are quite willing to get involved in prison ministries, working primarily with offenders, but are reluctant for some reason to get involved with victims."

Other conference themes were Prisons that Restore, Restoring Ex-prisoners and their Families, and Reconciling Communities. Speakers included Prison Fellowship International president Ron Nikkel, Judges Fred McElrea and Stan Thorburn, Australian exprisoner turned criminologist Arthur Bolkas, and South African Consul Gregory Fortuin. The Prison Fellowship plans to transcribe the taped speeches, and publish the proceedings.

Kamil Shehade

Born as one of eight children to a Palestinian family living in poverty, Kamil Shehade (1954-2000) became acquainted with the consequences of prejudice and marginalisation.

Yet from an early age he had a deep sense of justice, and saw that compassion and service were more effective than demonstrations and violence.

Working with civic leaders in his community, he was instrumental in having legislation passed to provide better services to prisoners and to remove discriminatory obstacles faced by prisoners returning to the community.

In 1989 he founded the House of Grace, a residential centre to provide housing and care for released prisoners.

Recognised by the President of Israel for his service to the community, Kamil exhibited a passion for seeking justice that reconciles through practical action.

Victim Thankful for Opportunity

A recent case involving careless driving causing injury demonstrated the value of restorative justice for victims, as well as the flexibility of the courtreferred process to accommodate different cultures of participants.

The offender was a Chinese student who failed to give way at a right hand turn and hit a cyclist. The cyclist's teeth were badly broken, requiring several thousand dollars of dental bills.

Following the offender's guilty plea in court, the victim offered his home as the venue for a restorative justice conference. A Mandarin interpreter helped translate during the conference, which resulted in the offender agreeing to pay the victim's dental bills.

In a letter of thanks to facilitators Phil Macdiarmid and Rosalie Steward, the victim said he had "found the (restorative justice) meetings informative, and it did help to express some of the feelings I had about the incident.

Without this process, I would not have had that opportunity."

Phil said the case really suited restorative justice: "The thing I find quite sad about restorative justice is that too often the victims don't want to go ahead. They don't know what they are missing."

Victim Empathy ‘Integral to Rehabilitation'

The court-referred restorative justice process is providing courts with "a very clear indication of an offender's true remorse," says Hamilton probation officer Elisabeth Cianci-Balloch.

"Offenders are often not very good at empathising with victims, so restorative justice is filling a real need."

Elisabeth says that gaining empathy with a victim can be integral to an offender's rehabilitation.

"If a person doesn't think of the consequences of their offending - which a lot of offenders don't - they are more likely to re-offend.

"If you increase their awareness of the impact their offending can have on other people, it will help their rehabilitation."

Restorative justice does not suit every offender, says Elisabeth.

"In my experience, a lot of offenders are quite scared of attending conferences and facing victims because they are afraid for their safety.

"Their perception of a victim is that they will be angry and may act violently. Others are more concerned with the impact restorative justice might have on sentencing. Then there are those who are just not interested."

For those who are interested, she says that restorative justice "can give us an indication of their actual motivation.

"If they say they are motivated to reduce their reoffending, but they are not interested in a restorative justice conference, it raises questions about their level of motivation."

Elisabeth says she has admiration for offenders who are prepared to undertake a restorative justice conference.

"There is a lot of shame involved. It is very easy to apologise by letter, and a lot of people take that option. But to front up and apologise in person takes a lot of guts. There is the fear of the unknown. They don't know what the victims are actually like in many cases, whether they'll be angry or accepting of what's happened.

"Some offenders do not want to involve their whanau in the restorative justice process, partly because of shame, but also because they do not want to impose their problems on members of their family.

"They see what they have done as their own problem. For a lot of Maori offenders, there is an issue of shaming their whanau's name, so they try to isolate themselves from their family for that reason."

She says that the more positive support an offender has, the more successful they are likely to be in their rehabilitation. "There is also more accountability."

Another common concern of offenders, other than safety, is ‘what can they say?'

"Sometimes it is important to explain to offenders what a real apology is - that it's more than just saying sorry.

"I've sometimes talked with offenders about the victims' concerns, and why the victims want to talk to them. The more informed offenders are about the restorative justice process, the more willing they are to participate."

Elisabeth has been impressed with the calibre of the facilitators used in the court-referred restorative justice project, and the quality of the reports produced from conferences.

"It is definitely a strength of the process. They've done a really good job of choosing facilitators."

Te Ara Whakatika is produced by the Ministry of Justice to ensure the wide community of people who support the restorative justice movement are kept informed about the court-referred restorative justice project. The items in this newsletter do not necessarily reflect the views of the Ministry of Justice or official policies. Articles in this newsletter may be copied and reproduced, but Te Ara Whakatika must be acknowledged. Te Ara Whakatika can be viewed online at www.justice.govt.nz/crrj. Inquiries regarding the court-referred restorative justice project should be directed to: Alison Hill, Ministry of Justice, PO Box 180, Wellington, Phone (04) 918 8839, Fax (04) 918 8820, email: alison.hill@justice.govt.nz; or to co-ordinators Islay Brown (Auckland) Phone 025 745 141, (09) 916 9000; Garry Summers (Waitakere) Phone (025) 271 5148, (09) 916 5268; Marianne Lammers (Hamilton) Phone (07) 957 7816, (025) 271 5203; Cathy Brown (Dunedin) Phone 025 271 5164, (03) 471 5170. Te Ara Whakatika mailing list inquiries should be directed to: Abpost, PO Box 38756, Petone, Wellington. Fax (04) 568 3400.