Te Ara Whakatika

Inside this issue

Restorative justice is also being piloted by the British Government

Training video in production

Sylvia Tongotongo hopes people will embrace restorative justice as a "living principle of life."

Face to Face

Questions raced through Mary's mind as she wandered through her burgled house. "Would the burglar return for things not taken the first time? Why our house?"

She swayed between feelings of anger and nausea.

But within three weeks such feelings had dissipated and she had a "real sense of closure."

The offender had been found, had pleaded guilty, and had agreed to take part in a community-based restorative justice process as well as the official criminal justice system.

Mary (not her real name) had a chance to face the offender, ask questions, tell him how deeply his actions had affected her family, hear how remorseful he was and have some input into helping him move on and make positive changes in his life.

"We heard through his probation officer that he got a job two weeks later, and we've had the first repayments for the damage. It was good to see he really responded, and from what I could see learnt a lot."

The burglary was Mary's first personal experience of being a victim of a crime. She came home to find a window broken and a number of items taken, including a cellphone and an expensive digital camera she had borrowed from work.

"Probably the worst thing was that somebody else's property had gone."

Her husband was overseas at the time and her teenage children feared the unknown burglar would return.

After the offender was arrested, Mary was telephoned by a facilitator to see if she would consider a restorative justice meeting: "I knew the offender was young-not a hardened criminal. There were so many questions. I hoped the conference would make a difference for him and us."

Mary's youngest son, who had been badly affected by the break-in, didn't want to attend, but "benefited greatly by us coming back to tell him what went on."

At the conference it was "obvious the offender would have rather sunk through a hole in the ground than have been there. He looked nervous and embarrassed. He gave us the odd glance, but kept his head down mostly."

Mary says the facilitator was fantastic at guiding the conference and bringing it back on track at crucial points.

The offender spoke about being bored on the day and how he decided to break into a house.

Mary talked about how horrified she'd been at having the digital camera stolen. "I just swung between being mad and feeling sick as a rushed round the house looking for what else had gone. My husband talked about how helpless he felt not being at home and his fears for our safety."

The offender "kept on trying to look at me but his head was getting lower and lower as he began to understand what affect ‘a simple in and out job' had on me and my husband.

"I told him I was so sad to see a young guy getting involved in crime. I wanted him to pay us back for the damage done and return the camera and cellphone."

Mary then forgave him and said the "slate was clean, but I really hoped in the future the slate would tell a story of someone who had made a terrible mistake but had learnt from it and pushed on to do good things with his life."

When Mary said she forgave him, the young man-with tear-filled eyes-apologised.

"I told him that forgiveness didn't forgo justice and he still had to face the police system and pay us back."

What could have been an experience that left Mary frightened in her house for years turned out to be positive. The restorative justice process was "so good and really worthwhile."

Community Response Heartening

The court-referred restorative justice project is now well underway, with the first conferences expected to be held in August.

The project is being run in four district courts-Auckland, Waitakere, Hamilton and Dunedin. Training of the first facilitators has taken place in Auckland, Waitakere and Hamilton, and further training is scheduled in the coming weeks for these areas as well as Dunedin.

I'm pleased with the way communities from the pilot regions have got behind the project. There has been a huge response from people wanting to become facilitators for the project. This is heartening.

It is also heartening to hear of other countries such as the United Kingdom that are, like us, establishing initiatives that will contribute to the development of restorative justice worldwide. The restorative justice process is inherently a community process, involving a wide range of people, from victims and offenders, through to family, whanau and friends, through to judges, through to the general public.

It is important that people have access to as much quality information as possible. The positive response to the launch of this newsletter, which aims to keep people informed about the project, means we are on the way.

Hon Matt Robson
Minister for Courts

Sharing Experiences

New Zealand and Britain might be at opposite ends of the globe, but restorative justice is on the agendas of both country's governments.

"I think it is so amazing that at two extremes of the world governments are funding massive restorative justice pilots at exactly the same time," says Inspector Judith Johnson from Britain's Thames Valley Police restorative justice consultancy.

Judith visited New Zealand recently with the consultancy's training manager, Inspector Tony Walker, to look at the Department for Courts' restorative justice facilitator training in Auckland, and share some of the British experiences.

"Our hope is that we can maintain contact and learn from each other as the two pilots develop," says Judith.

Thames Valley Police has run a restorative justice process for five years as an initiative of its chief constable: "We are now at the point of starting to involve the community," she says.

The British Home Office will soon be providing close to NZ$10 million of funding for a number of adult restorative justice pilots throughout the country. Thames Valley Police will be developing the pilots in partnership with universities in the United States and Australia.

New Zealand's involvement of the community and its approach to cultural issues was of interest to the pair, as were some of the practical exercises used in the training.

The British pilot is driven by a desire to measure whether restorative justice reduces re-offending. The twoyear project, being run in three locations, involves matching similar offenders and offences. For every two similar cases, one offender will be placed in the restorative justice process and one in the standard process.

"We need high quality data," says Tony.

Judith, who worked as a police officer for 20 years, became involved in restorative justice because of dissatisfaction with the general police approach: "Restorative justice offers a far better solution for everyone," she says.

Facilitator Training

More than 1000 people have expressed interest in becoming court-referred restorative justice facilitators.

Of those who sent in formal applications, 120 have been chosen to take part in facilitator training for the Auckland, Waitakere, Hamilton and Dunedin pilot areas.

Most of the successful applicants were "extremely well qualified" in counselling and mediation, says Hamilton restorative justice co-ordinator Jim Berkett. "The calibre of the trainees augurs well for the project."

Some, however, found the training challenging "because facilitation requires a different mindset (to counselling and mediation). Facilitating a conference is about enabling the parties to communicate rather than providing the answers."

Auckland restorative justice co-ordinator Islay Brown says that the type of people who applied were "passionate about restorative justice and social justice in general."

Islay is pleased with the cultural mix of those selected.

"Getting that mix was one of my priorities."

Dunedin co-ordinator Cathy Brown says that she was impressed with the extremely high calibre of people wanting to become facilitators.

The training covers roles and responsibilities of facilitators, ground rules and cultural approaches. It also includes a variety of practical exercises and role plays covering pre and post conference scenarios, as well as the conferences themselves. Those taking part are assessed on their abilities during role play scenarios on the final day.

"The facilitators really did get to know each other, and one of the results was that they wanted to set up a networking group to keep in contact," says Islay.

Waitakere co-ordinator Garry Summers has been pleased with the way trainees have responded. "The training was enjoyable, though at times intensive and demanding. Trainees were asked to take on board a lot of new information."

A wide range of people had input into the development of the training materials and to the actual training. These included members of the project's liaison group, experienced restorative justice facilitators and professional trainers.

Resources Update

Video

A video is being produced that will reconstruct a restorative justice conference, as well as containing pre and post-conference information.

"The aim is to use the video as a training aid and as a general information video," says Department for Courts project manager Alison Hill.

The video will be filmed in a variety of settings, using a mixture of "real people" and actors.

Booklet

Groups or individuals involved in the court-referred restorative justice project might be interested in a 20-page booklet produced to outline the process.

The booklet explains what is meant by restorative justice and how it works in the court-referred project.

It explains what will happen for victims and offenders, as well as the roles and responsibilities of other people involved in the process such as support people, conference facilitators, lawyers, police officers, probation officers and judges.

The booklet also includes information on the background to restorative justice, community involvement in the project, and cultural considerations.

Information Cards

A series of information cards has been produced, summarising the courtreferred restorative justice process for victims, offenders and support people.

These will be used by the restorative justice co-ordinators to ensure that people have accessible, written information on the processes in the project.

Building a Better Community Through Restorative Justice

Sylvia Tongotongo's wish for the future of restorative justice is simple:

"That people embrace it as a living principle of life, and that the justice system embraces it as a process that works." For Sylvia (pictured standing), such outcomes would lead to a more peaceful and healthier society.

"If we are looking at building a better community, we have to find alternative ways of bridging the gap.

"There are angry people in the community who have been victims, and the prisons are filled with depressed people." Communities throughout the country are already showing the success of restorative justice in action, says the Methodist Minister who is based in Auckland.

Sylvia is not advocating that restorative justice becomes an alternative to the present system, but rather an addition for appropriate cases. She believes that the court-referred project can complement the community-based processes already in place.

Restorative justice gives offenders the chance to be accountable and responsible for their actions.

"They have to recognise that another person's rights have been violated and be able to restore the worth of the other person."

Forgiveness from the victim is something Sylvia also sees as fundamental. "People can make a choice whether to accept the apology."

Sylvia, who is Tongan, is committed to breaking the cycle that results in Pacific peoples being disproportionately represented at the lower end of education and health statistics and at the upper end of unemployment and prison rates.

"For some people the root of their problem is depression. This has driven them to offend against someone else. It could be that the offender is a victim too.

"We need to raise the awareness of Pacific peoples that they have something to offer."

Sylvia became involved in restorative justice about four years ago and has worked as a facilitator for Restorative Justice Services-a community group based in Auckland.

"I believe that the community can work together with the government system to nurture change. To bring about that change you need to work within the system."

Sylvia has a parish ministry that includes outreach work with prisoners. She also works as a resource person for New Zealand-born and raised Pacific peoples in the Methodist Church. She is a member of the Pacific 2000 Project run by Methodist Mission Northern and is a member of the national liaison committee for the court-referred restorative justice project.

Restorative justice co-ordinator Islay Brown has worked closely with Sylvia in setting up the court-referred project in Auckland. Sylvia has provided input into facilitator selection and training.

"Sylvia is a gift to the restorative justice initiative," says Islay.

"She has the ability to work across many cultural groups. She makes people feel at ease and they respond to her."

Te Ara Whakatika is produced by the Department for Courts 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 Department for Courts or official policies. Articles in this newsletter may be copied and reproduced, but Te Ara Whakatika must be acknowledged. Inquiries regarding the court-referred restorative justice project should be directed to: Alison Hill, Department for Courts, PO Box 2750, Wellington, Phone (04) 918 8839, Fax (04) 918 8820, email: alison.hill@courts.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; Jim Berkett (Hamilton) Phone 025 271 5203, (07) 957 7700; Cathy Brown (Dunedin) Phone 025 271 5164, (03) 471 5170. Mailing list inquiries should be directed to: Abpost, PO Box 38756, Petone, Wellington Fax (04) 568 3400.