newsletter of the court-referred restorative justice project - august 2001 - issue #3
Inside this issue
The first cases are being referred for possible restorative justice conferences
Misconceptions about restorative justice are rife amongst people who have never experienced it.
Leading the World
New Zealand is at the cutting edge of restorative justice, according to American prosecutor Donald Schmid.
The Assistant United States Attorney and federal prosecutor with the United States Department of Justice has just finished seven months in New Zealand studying the country's innovative family group conferencing and the courtreferred restorative justice project.
"I think there is a lot riding on New Zealand's courtreferred project. A negative outcome could have ripple affects across the world. People do look to New Zealand as a leader in restorative justice and are really pulling for the project to do well."
Donald, who was in New Zealand as an Ian Axford Fellow in Public Policy, says that prior to leaving the States he had not made up his mind whether restorative justice was good or not. Speaking to Te Ara Whakatika in the last days of his visit, he said he was now a convert. "I've become quite a big believer in the process."
Donald's visit included attending the court-referred project facilitator training in Auckland. "I was very impressed with the training and what I saw and observed first hand in Auckland." He admits that his conversion, as a prosecutor, to a restorative justice advocate is likely to have more impact back home than had he been an offender advocate.
"I think given my background as a federal prosecutor... if I have become a believer in restorative justice then it says something.
"Restorative justice makes the actual victims of crime central participants in the response to the crime. Victims are given a voice to express the impact of the crime on their lives and to get their questions answered."
Donald says that his research in New Zealand has shown that the involvement of the victim leads to greater accountability from the offender. "It is difficult for offenders to make excuses and to retreat behind a hardened shell in the face of actual victims recounting the often devastating impact of the criminal offence. Offenders more often express real remorse, which is a key step to their own journey away from crime and to the healing of the wounds suffered by victims. Offers of restitution and other forms of reparation often follow, but in many cases are not as important to victims as true expressions of remorse."
Donald Schmid says that restorative justice also works "because it gives new voices to victims, to offenders, and to community representatives. In this way, the participants - even police - feel a greater sense of ownership in the process and of the outcomes that are produced by the process. This explains why researchers have found much higher levels of satisfaction with restorative justice processes than with traditional criminal justice in the courts. Victims and offenders' satisfaction rates in excess of 90% are not unusual in evaluations of restorative justice programmes. Offenders in particular feel that they have been treated fairly, including by the police, in the context of restorative justice programmes.
"Because restorative justice practices often reveal deeper understandings of what has led to criminal acts and what is needed to reintegrate the offender into the community and to restore the victim, restorative justice conferences and other processes frequently lead to the greater use of and need for community resources (including drug/alcohol counselling, alternative education programmes, and community service opportunities). In this way, restorative justice seems better at building communities and resources within the community than traditional criminal court processes.
"Restorative justice is not a panacea. Nor can it supplant completely criminal court processes. But in New Zealand and elsewhere, it is a tool that has repeatedly proven to be effective."
While in New Zealand, Donald surveyed Child, Youth and Family family group conference co-ordinators. His research found that 92 percent of co-ordinators believed the family group conferences were effective overall and 88 percent believed they could be used effectively with adult offenders.
Donald, who has experience in prosecuting a number of major public corruption cases in the United States as well as large drug, violent crime and white collar fraud cases, says that although two or three restorative justice projects are underway in America, it has never been attempted at a federal government level.
His aim on returning home was to pilot a project in the Northern District of Indiana that could be duplicated nationwide.
Misconceptions about restorative justice are rife amongst people who have never experienced it, says one of New Zealand's prime advocates of the process, Helen Bowen.
"It is not a soft option to go to a conference. It is much easier to stand in a dock than to face the victim in a room. Once people find out about the process, they get incredibly enthused by it."
Helen Bowen and Jim Boyack, of Restorative Justice Programmes Ltd, were contracted to run the restorative justice facilitator training for the court-referred project. Both are barristers with extensive experience in community-based restorative justice initiatives, and were involved in lobbying to get the pilot introduced. Helen has also worked with communities and agencies wanting to undertake restorative justice in the United States, Australia, the Bahamas and Ireland.
In 2000, the pair produced the New Zealand Restorative Justice Practice Manual (available at www.restorativejustice.org.nz) for the Restorative Justice Trust. Much of the court-referred training is based on this manual. "It was a beginner's guide-a how-to manual."
After developing the manual, the trust went on to test the content by setting up a community-based pilot in Waitakere. Helen says that the pilot was successful, but did meet some resistance from lawyers, police and the judiciary. "The great thing about the court-referred pilot is that it is official. That lends a lot more credibility to the process, and because it is being run by the Department for Courts, it is seen as neutral."
The court-referred facilitator training starts from the premise that the chosen facilitators have a number of core competencies. This allows the trainers to focus on practical skills, such as how to cope with a range of emotions at a conference. "It is about the facilitator backing off and letting the parties communicate. If they are too hands-on, the parties keep going back to the facilitator for direction."
Both trainers were impressed with the quality of the people selected to be court-referred facilitators.
"It has been an inspiring experience to train in the four centres in the last couple of months," says Jim. " There are some exceptional people and we are confident that the court-referred pilot is in good hands with these talented community facilitators."
Trainers, coaches and others involved in the court-referred restorative justice facilitator training in Auckland. From left: Elaine Dyer, Helen Bowen, Fiona Landon, Jim Boyack (behind), Cathy Harrison, Mat Hakiaha, Ricky Houghton, Suzanne Hall and Ken McMaster.
Training Package
The court-referred restorative justice facilitator training package is a significant step for the movement, says training consultant Ken McMaster.
"It is the first time a standard training package has been put together for restorative justice."
Ken, of Hall McMaster and Associates Ltd, was contracted by the Department for Courts to help design the training and related materials. "We used the Restorative Justice Practice Manual developed by the Restorative Justice Trust as the basis, and then brought together other material from sources such as Victim Support, court people and information from people who work with offenders."
Marie Knight, a member of the training advisory group set up to oversee the work, has been keen to ensure the process is victim-centred. She is also a national liaison committee member for the project and Victim Support's manager of government relations and policy. "It is important that facilitators are aware that a victim's perspective is very different from an offender's. They have to understand that restorative justice is a chance for victims to express their feelings, an opportunity to ask why me?, and to have a say in putting it right."
Denis O'Reilly, also a member of the national liaison committee and training advisory group, says it is important to remember that the training is "work in progress" and is continually being refined and adapted. Denis, who has wide experience in working with communities and in government departments, has been impressed with the calibre of people involved in the pilot.
"Not everyone agrees with each other over every issue, but the unifying characteristic that is apparent in my view is that those involved all have an underlying commitment to creating a fairer and more just society."
Far North Initiative
Using restorative justice principles as a dispute resolution mechanism in schools is just one part of a community-based initiative Ricky Houghton is helping to set up in the Far North.
"There is a huge drug problem in the Far North, and this is having a fall-out into violence in schools and our community. Restorative justice is a means to resolve disputes without resorting to violence."
He Korowai aims to address problems faced in health, housing, education, training, employment and justice.
Ricky, of Ngati Kahu and Ngati Whatua descent, has extensive experience in judicial community-based sentencing and is on the court-referred restorative justice project's national liaison committee. He has been involved with restorative justice for five years.
Ricky is disappointed that the Far North does not have a court-referred restorative justice pilot, but believes He Korowai will deliver a community-based response while the pilot is running and being assessed.
"He Korowai promises to stand and deliver a whole range of services that stem from restorative justice conferences. People come to a conference not with one issue but a whole range."
Ricky manages an iwi social service agency in the Far North and is a member of a wide range of committees and organisations, including co-trustee of West Auckland University.
"A lot of offending that goes on here can be traced back to problems that really came about quite innocently but were left to fester.
"Crimes also produce a ripple effect through the community, with every person suffering the embarrassment and shame. It's a matter of sitting down with the people who are angry and unhappy and seeing how can we fix this. Restorative justice is an old Maori style of fixing things.
"We have to relearn the way we used to do things. If someone was hurt we used to go down to the marae and sit down and debate it there.
"A lot of people are very supportive of restorative justice and are excited by it," he says.
Congratulations and Thanks
With the first cases being referred for possible restorative justice conferences in the pilot areas, it's time to thank all those community members who have contributed to the establishment of the pilots.
Without your support and the years of pioneering restorative justice in the community, the court-referred restorative justice project would not have been possible.
A tremendous amount of ground work has been done to get us to this exciting point.
I believe that New Zealand is not only leading the world in piloting restorative justice through the court system, it is also leading the world in being willing to listen to and learn from the community.
I will be making contact with as many of the local groups in the pilot sites as I can, and want to assure them that I am committed to learning of the hurdles as well as the successes. We are presently looking at ways in which we can get more input from local providers into the project's national liaison committee.
As conferences take place in the four courts (Auckland, Waitakere, Hamilton and Dunedin), we will in the coming months be able to keep you updated on progress through Te Ara Whakatika.
Hon Matt Robson, Minister for Courts
New Bill Introduced
Justice Minister Phil Goff has introduced the Sentencing and Parole Reform Bill, which he says will ensure punishments are tailored to fit crimes, and that victims will be given a better deal.
The Bill includes the following reforms:
Public submissions on the Bill, which close on October 5, should be posted to the Justice and Electoral Committee, Bowen House, Parliament, Wellington (no stamp required).
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. Te Ara Whakatika mailing list inquiries should be directed to: Abpost, PO Box 38756, Petone, Wellington Fax (04) 568 3400.
