Punishment doesn't pay: priest

By TIM PEGLER, aboriginal affairs reporter     Article from The Melbourne Age newspaper in 1995  

Retribution is precisely the wrong way to administer criminal justice, according to a visiting New Zealand prison chaplain and author, Father Jim Consedine.

Far from rehabilitating the offenders, he said in Melbourne yesterday, retributive justice systems guaranteed high crime and imprisonment rates while failing to deal with victims' needs.

Father Consedine, a prison chaplain for 17 years, said a system based on restoration and repair had led to dramatic reductions in the number of young people being jailed in New Zealand.

The author of Restorative Justice: Healing the Effects of Crime, Father Consedine said: "The New Zealand system does not start with the question of how do you punish the offender, but how do you repair the damage of the offence."

The system, mandatory for juvenile offenders since 1989 and being tested with adults, uses a group conference process.

Within days of an offender being charged, an independent mediator arranges a "family group conference".

The conference involves the offender (with family, school or sporting representatives), police and the victim (with support from secondary victims, such as friends and family).

The offender is given a chance to explain his or her actions and apologise to the victim who can ask questions and explain their feelings.

After talks, each group proposes sanctions to repair the damage. The mediator forges consensus and then takes the offender before a judge.

Father Consedine said judges could make the sanctions stronger or weaker, but 90 per cent accepted the mediator's recommendations.

Juvenile reoffending had dropped by about 15 per cent since the system became mandatory, he said. Testing the system with adults in a provincial city had slashed the prison population and led to a drop in local crime.

Father Consedine said the system had been welcomed by Maori people because it had its origins in the traditions of many indigenous cultures, where offenders were brought face to face with their victims.

He said the high rate of Aboriginal deaths in custody "screams out how tragic the imposition of an alien British system of justice has been in Australia".

Used with permission of author

RESTORATIVE JUSTICE - A LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS

Christian Morality, Restorative Justice and the Law

A HARSH REALITY - A MERCIFUL RESPONSE

RESTORATIVE JUSTICE – CREATIVE PEACEMAKING

DISINFECTANT CANNOT FIX CRIME

Here are a couple of Restorative Justice websites you might like to explore. I'm sure there are a lot more around. Real Justice - A US private corporation doing Restorative Justice on a big scale - www.realjustice.org The NZ one is www.restorativejustice.org.nz