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99-163

How to help punishment fit the crime--and help a community

by Sherri A. Watkins

     (ENS) "It's remarkable to see so many people in Washington 
coming out to discuss restorative justice on a Friday evening," 
remarked "Face the Nation" news show host Bob Schieffer at the 
start of the first national interfaith conference on restorative 
justice.  He was speaking to more than 250 clergy and lay 
leaders, criminal justice employees, service providers and 
politicians gathered October 15 and 16 to explore alternatives to 
traditional ideas about crime and punishment.

     Although the gathering was most certainly comprised of the 
already converted, the energy and knowledge they shared seemed to 
have the potential force of any successful grassroots effort.

     The idea to bring together so many who were eager to explore 
ways to improve the justice system came from the Commission on 
Peace of the Diocese of Washington. "As the disparity between 
rich and poor grows around the world and the intensity and 
proliferation of violence grows as a global issue, our call as 
Christians prevents us from retreating from the world," reads a 
commission statement. "The goal of the Commission on Peace of the 
Diocese of Washington is to develop and apply a Christian 
understanding of world affairs and to present the findings to 
parishes in the diocese through workshops, forums, educational 
publications and pilgrimages to areas of concern." 

     To this end, commission leaders applied for funding from the 
Diocese of Washington's Ruth Gregory Soper Memorial Fund and 
forged an alliance with the NAACP, the Restorative Justice 
Institute and the Campaign for Effective Crime Policy in order to 
offer the October conference.

      Over the day and a half of the event, attendees heard 
addresses by U.S. Deputy Assistant Attorney General Noel  Brennan 
and U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Virginia), as well as a homily by 
Charles Keyser, bishop suffragan for the armed  forces, reminding 
those assembled that "reconciliation and forgiveness are so 
clearly fundamental to Christians."

500,000 returning from prison

     In her address, Brennan raised the question of whether 
Americans should be incarcerating offenders at the current 
staggering rate. "Five hundred thousand will return to our 
communities in the next five years, and we need to find answers 
in our communities, especially since offenders often return to a 
community with many of the elements of failure that led to the 
crime and incarceration."

     Brennan was happy to report that Attorney General Janet Reno 
has identified re-entry as a priority for the remainder of her 
administration.

     Keynoter Ronald Earle, district attorney for Travis County, 
Texas, opened with, "Congratulations to the diocese for having 
the courage to put this conference on--especially since new ideas 
in criminal justice usually mix like oil and water.  Many of us 
are hungering for justice because things don't feel right.  If 
crime is a wound, then justice should be healing.

     "We have an opportunity to change the direction in which 
we're going to change--to use opportunities created by crime to 
reweave the fabric of community and create a sense of safety."

     Earle said he has spent his 20 years as a district attorney 
trying to figure out what justice is. He was first tough on 
crime, but eventually concluded, "More police and more 
prosecutors have had the unintended effect of leading to more 
pain, more victims, and more jail cells--not necessarily more 
justice."

     The criminal justice system, he said, has traditionally 
focused on "Who did it?" "What law did he violate?" "How are we 
going to punish him?"

     Restorative justice provides an opportunity to look at "What 
harm was done?" "What needs to be done to repair the harm?" 
"Who's responsible for repairing it?"

Where's the healing?

     Earle's comments were followed by a response panel moderated 
by Schieffer and including Earle; Bo Lozoff, director of the 
Human Kindness Foundation in Durham, North Carolina; Azizah al-
Hibri, professor of Islamic Jurisprudence at the University of 
Richmond, and crime victim Ellen Halbert, who was raped, beaten 
with a hammer, and left for dead.

     Halbert, who edits Crime Victims Report, expressed concern 
that "If all we do is keep victims and offenders apart, there's 
no healing.  Victims think what happens in the courtroom will 
heal them, but it doesn't. In Travis County they have over 300 
victims who would like to go into prisons and ask the offenders, 
"Why?" Halbert advocates programs that encourage interaction 
between offenders and victims.

     Prison ministry proponent Lozoff encouraged prison 
visitation because "extending genuine friendship and abandoning 
professionalism awakens the offender's sense of caring about 
someone other than him/herself."  For 26 years he's heard 
criminals saying that their turning point was when they "got" 
what the victim was going through.

     In a vivid example of the victimization of offenders, Gus 
Smith presented the story of his daughter, Kemba Smith, at a 
"Victims" workshop.  Kemba was a college student, soon to become 
single mother, who was sentenced to 24 years without parole in a 
federal prison.  Although she had no prior record, Kemba was 
persuaded to plead guilty to conspiracy to distribute crack 
cocaine. Already a victim of domestic abuse before incarceration, 
Kemba is serving time like so many others in an environment where 
she is told when to eat, when to sleep, what to wear--the 
continuation of an inhuman cycle that makes eventual 
reintegration into society a lengthy and painful process.

Taking practical steps

     Schieffer moderated another panel discussion the following 
morning with the Rev. Jim Consedine, a Roman Catholic priest from 
New Zealand who has written a book on restorative justice; Kay 
Pranis, a restorative justice planner for the Minnesota 
Department of Corrections; and Richard Sothoron, Jr., a circuit 
judge in Prince George's County, Maryland.

     Bringing in another dimension, Consedine reported that 
through our criminal justice system we scapegoat the poor through 
our obsession with street crime.  We need to reassess our 
understanding of crime.  "Why do corporate and government crime 
go unanalyzed?" he asked.  "We are all complicit when one sixth 
of the world's population earns less than $1 a day and we all 
benefit from the lower prices.  Am I then my brother's and 
sister's keeper?  It seems not."

     Pranis addressed strategies for advocating locally for a 
restorative justice program. "One of the most difficult parts is 
that you can't know where you're going.  You only know where you 
are in terms of values, and it goes against all professional 
training to try to engage people on that basis.

     "Go out carrying these two most important things with you--a 
huge dream that you're willing to die for and a willingness to 
look at yourself.  Then offer the program, making it clear that 
it's authentic for you, but you're not making decisions for 
anyone else."

     When asked how practical this would be, Sothoron suggested 
that the only thing we could immediately do is address the 
problems of youth by opening up the lines of communication.  He 
expressed concern that having victims too involved in the actual 
court process could unfairly influence the outcome, not at all a 
popular sentiment, judging by audience reaction.  

     Pranis responded, "It's to the prosecutor's advantage to 
have the victim remain angry and unhealed until the case is 
resolved, but it's usually helpful for victims, even in cases of 
horrific crimes, to hear offenders say, "You did nothing to 
deserve this. It was my fault."

Crime and politics

     Scott, a member of the House Judiciary Committee and the 
Congressional Black Caucus, seemed to agree. "You can reduce 
crime or you can play politics, but you can't do both…. Prisons 
do not deter those with no hope and nothing to lose."

     Recognizing the "wonderful, informed, educated, sincere 
group of people here," the Rev. Jackie Means, director of prison 
ministries for the Episcopal Church, invited participants to 
share their own suggestions for moving forward, before adding a 
few of her own. Ideas put forth included encouraging people to 
make their voices heard by voting in every election  and writing 
their representatives; distributing a list of conference 
attendees so they can form a network; establishing regional focus 
groups and ongoing meetings; talking to friends, church members, 
and others to raise public awareness about justice issues; 
requesting meetings with legislators; and creating small, 
supporting groups wherever one can.

--Sherri A. Watkins is the editor of Washington Diocese, the 
newspaper of the Diocese of Washington.