Title: Restorative justice' focus of Disciples conference agenda
December 18, 1996
Disciples News Service
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Contact: news@cm.disciples.org
96b-103
INDIANAPOLIS (DNS) -- Building prisons is not the answer to handling the surging numbers of persons who become part of the U.S.' criminal justice system each year.
"We can't build our way out of this," says J.T. Ferguson, Indianapolis. The executive director of Offender Aid and Restoration suggests another model or paradigm for dealing with offenders.
Ferguson was among 25 Indianapolis persons from local criminal-justice-related organizations who gathered here Dec. 11 to discuss another model called "Restorative Justice." The conference was convened by the Homeland Ministries division of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).
What's so important about restorative justice is its emphasis on meeting the needs of victims. That aspect is critical for the Rev. Gerald Cunningham of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Neither the needs of victims nor offenders are met by the current criminal justice system, says the Homeland Ministries senior associate. "There must be a better way."
Crime victims are among the most neglected persons during justice proceedings, according to Josephine Cuesto, an Indianapolis sentencing consultant and former probation officer. Victims are angry, she says, because the courts seem insensitive to their particular needs.
Restorative justice, says Cunningham, "addresses the hurts and needs of victims and offenders in such a way that they and the community are healed." Toward that end, reconciliation between victim and offender is an essential part of the effort.
Restorative justice is about seeing people, as opposed to the state, as victims, says the Rev. Kathy Lancaster, Louisville, Ky., keynote speaker for the event. She is associate director of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Criminal Justice Program and editor of Church and Society magazine.
While heading her church's national program, Lancaster says "restorative justice is a local initiative. What counts is what you do right here."
For Cuesto this means that offenders' cases need to be considered individually during sentencing. Day-reporting sites, alternative sentencing, transitional and pre-release programs, and educational initiatives can all help truly restore offenders to society.
Without these efforts, former inmates also become "victims of the system," says Amaryllis Lewis of Public Action in Correction Effort or PACE, Indianapolis. Many inmates -- ill prepared for life after incarceration -- wind up back in jails or prison. "When does the victimization stop?" Lewis asks.
Prisons and jails, say ex-offenders, have become throw-away places for inmates where little to no rehabilitation really takes place -- if it is even feasible.
"Offenders don't need rehabilitation, they need habilitation,'"says Renee Williamson, Indianapolis, co-founder of New Beginnings -- a support program for women ex-offenders. For her that comes in the form of transitional, job training, and counseling programs for inmates. Without them offenders will emerge from prison virtually unchanged.
Williamson and New Beginnings co-founder Jendayi Mayibuye, are both ex-offenders who have changed and are now giving back to the community. The organization is their contribution toward restorative justice. Through it Mayibuye hopes to help other women offenders and local communities to know that "we have something to offer."
One inmate advocate says local church efforts are crucial in helping inmates see their worth as creations of God. "I believe most persons in prison have spiritual problems that are expressed in unacceptable behavior," says Marilyn Hotz, a longtime prison volunteer from Indianapolis.
Very few prisoners identify with God or a "higher value system outside of themselves"; have no sense of community; and have no understanding of how to use the freedom others take for granted, according to Hotz.
Churches can help start the process by "respecting the personhood" of these individuals "even when they don't respect themselves," says the Homeland Ministries retiree.
Restoring relationships between offenders, their victims and the larger community is critical if the system is to be reformed, proponents say. The current punitive atmosphere is counter-productive.
The answer for Indiana's dilemma may well be contained in its own state laws, according to one offenders' advocate. Lobbyist and former legislator Leslie Duvall is quick to remind politicians that the state's penal code "is to be based on articles of reformation and not punitive justice."
"What we're doing is dealing with symptoms," says OAR's Ferguson. "We need a change from being symptom-based' to becoming prescription-based.' It's all about individuals being made whole."
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