Prison FellowshipSponsors Government at Restorative Justice Seminar
PFCI presidentBob Thompson with PFI Vice President Timothy Khoo of Singaporeand Prison Fellowship International (PFI) Representative for NorthAmerica and the Caribbean, Ethiopian Aklilu Tadesse
The Cayman Islands branch of Prison FellowshipInternational (PFCI) recently did a role-reversal on typical government private sector relationships when it offered scholarshipsto two civil servants to attend the "Justice that Restores"conference in Orlando in early March.
The Prison Fellowship is a multidenominationalinternational group of Christians who devote time and resourcesto the care of those incarcerated all over the world. They feelstrongly that restorative justice, as opposed to the traditionalretributive approach to crime, is the way of the future. PFCIsponsored Magistrate Grace Donalds, JP, Department of Social ServicesSenior Social Worker Kerry Parchman and Vice- Chairman of PFCIPastor Alson Ebanks to attend the three-day seminar.
The United Nations Working Party on RestorativeJustice defines it as "a process whereby all the partieswith a stake in a particular offence come together to resolvecollectively how to deal with the aftermath of the offense andits implications for the future." According to MagistrateDonalds, parties with a stake in an offence include not only thevictim and the offender but also the families of each and anyother members of their respective communities who may be affectedor who may be able to contribute to the prevention of a recurrence.
The focus shifts from punishment for anoffence against the state, to the offender working to repair theharm which has been caused to another and promoting healing forvictims, offenders and communities.
Says Magistrate Donalds, "The courtsof the Cayman Islands remain committed to this novel approach.The Advisory Committee on Sentencing which was established bythe Hon. Chief Justice presented its final report to His Excellencythe Governor in October 2000, and it is expected that legislationwhich will enable this philosophical change to sentencing willshortly be introduced.
"However," she added, "pendingsuch legislation, the courts have already displayed an acceptanceof the new approach."
Pastor Ebanks, who lent Chief Justice AnthonySmellie a book on Restorative Justice several years ago, is passionateabout the subject. "One of the great things about this conferencewas the fact that a local magistrate and social worker could attend,"he says. "I think this will help us as we work through toa new paradigm on criminal justice.
"We all know that the current approachis to regard crime as an offence against the state or "crown",with the objective of determining who did the offense and howthe offender should be punished." He adds, "But whenone listens to judges, legislators, and others currently involvedin this novel approach to 'justice', one finds both heart andhead responding positively to the concept of 'Restorative Justice',where crime is defined as conflicts between individuals, resultingin harm to victims and communities, including the offenders.
"In essence, retributive justice isoffender-based, whereas restorative justice is victim- and community-based,with the focus on what can be done to heal or repair the harmthat has been done by crime. This means that we go beyond "Whodid it?" to "Who was affected?" and "How doesthe community help restore those affected?" concludes PastorEbanks.
The conference in Orlando was Ms Parchman'sfirst introduction to the concept of Restorative Justice. "Idid not know much about it before I went, but I found the modelvery interesting. I believe it could really help to reduce thenumbers in our prisons, but I think it will be quite difficultto implement, especially in Cayman Brac."
She explained that to put such an idea intopractice in the Brac would be somewhat of a challenge due to thelimited resources and the differences in the small Brac communitiesas compared with larger ones elsewhere. "However," shesays, I am looking forward to the day when we can overcome thedifficulties and truly use the concept of Restorative Justicethroughout our islands."
"I'd really like to get the chanceto learn more about it in the future," she adds.
A report from the delegates was given ata PFCI dinner on 20 April, where Prison Fellowship International(PFI) Representative for North America and the Caribbean, EthiopianAklilu Tadesse and PFI Vice President Timothy Khoo of Singaporewere present during a brief visit to Cayman. Members of PFCI andPFI alike are excited by the concept of Restorative Justice, whichis currently being used successfully in other parts of the world.
PFCI president Bob Thompson states, "PFCIis committed to helping the community bring about solutions toour problems relating to crime. The principles of restorativejustice, Biblically based, provide excellent measures for bothvictims and offenders to resolve conflicts stemming from criminalactions. This is a programme which has found great success throughoutmany countries we are glad Cayman is moving in this direction."
The first step towards a paradigm shiftis the coming Drug Court workshop at the end of May, when personsinvolved in the justice system of Cayman will be taught how toimplement the concept of Restorative Justice in drug-related cases.