Martin Henry

" Justice is turned back/ And righteousness stands afar off/For truth is fallen in the street/and equity cannot enter." Isaiah 59:14 (NKJV)

Today marks the end of a 21-day period of national grieving, atonement, healing, restoration and reconciliation and is the second of a two-day conference on Restorative Justice at Northern Caribbean University.

A national atonement service was held at the Portmore Seventh-day Adventist Church on Saturday/Sab-bath and was designed to highlight the grieving and healing process for victims of crime, as well as the desire for an improved social order.

There are some important things about atonement, healing and restoration which the Church is well positioned to advise the nation about. First of all, no one can atone for another; a national atonement service is not very meaningful unless those who have, in fact, wronged others make their own atonement.

Further, healing and restoration requires that justice be done. As the Behavioural Sciences Department at NCU can confirm, one of the most important psychological needs of the wounded victims of crime and their families is for justice to be done to bring closure to their hurt.

Then, perhaps the most important role of the public authorities is to see to the dispensation of justice, which simply means giving to both the perpetrators of crime and the victims of crime their just deserts. "Unresolved hurts," the Restorative Justice group acknowledges, "leads to anti-social behaviour." Private vendetta in the absence of public justice is a driving force of crime in Jamaica.

Organisers have chosen a 21-day period to focus on restorative justice. The 21st chapter of Deuteronomy, vv 1-9, in spectacular fashion, sets out a ritual of atonement which civic leaders were to carry out to purify the land from the guilt of innocent blood when a murderer could not be honestly identified and appropriately punished as the law demanded. I want the people at the church-sponsored conference to read the passage and understand its broad, everlastingly-applicable principles. The leaders were to cry out, "Provide atonement O Lord, and do not lay innocent blood to the charge of Your people. So shall you put away the guilt of innocent blood from among you when you do what is right."

Critics

Restorative justice has been strongly a part of many religious traditions and is espoused by the Judaeo-Christian Old Testament (OT). Too many critics, with limited vision, can see only the lex talionis, 'an eye for an eye', and wrongly interpret it. OT law, which certainly does not rule out retributive justice, is firmly based on the principle of restoring harmony within community and between community and God.

Restorative justice is making a major comeback in Western juris-prudence and Jamaica too is wisely seeking to adopt its principles, hence the conference this week, with the ministries of Justice and National Security, the police, and the Disputes Resolution Foundation collaborating with the church-run NCU. According to one Internet source "Restorative justice is a theory of justice that emphasises repairing the harm caused or revealed by criminal behaviour."

From Wikipedia, citing Suffolk University, College of Arts & Sciences, Center for Restorative Justice: "Restorative justice focuses on crime as an act against another individual or community rather than the state. The victim plays a major role in the process and may receive some type of restitution from the offender.

Growing social movement

"Restorative justice is a broad term which encompasses a growing social movement to institutionalise peaceful approaches to harm, problem-solving and violations of legal and human rights. These range from international peacemaking tribunals such as the Truth and Reconciliation Com-mission of South Africa to innovations within [the] criminal justice system, schools, social services and communities.

"Rather than privileging the law, professionals and the state, restorative resolutions engage those who are harmed, wrongdoers and their affected communities in search of solutions that promote repair, reconciliation and the rebuilding of relationships.

"Restorative justice seeks to build partnerships to re-establish mutual responsibility for constructive responses to wrongdoing within communities. Restorative approaches seek a balanced approach to the needs of the victim, wrongdoer and community through processes that preserve the safety and dignity of all."

"Justice, truth be ours for-ever/Jamaica land we love."
Martin Henry is a communication specialist.