*this piece originally appeared at truthout (with special thanks to Editor Maya Schenwar)
By Molly Rowan Leach, Founder of Restorative Justice on The Rise
In 1995 my mother went into full blown psychosis as a result of a drastic change in the medication she was taking for schizo-affective disorder. She lured some of our friends and neighbors into our home and took the youngest, a toddler, into the basement bedroom. Once there, she slashed the child’s throat with a knife because of a voice telling her she had to. The toddler survived despite a massive loss of blood.
Mom had suffered from mental illness for most of her life in some form or another, and her new doctor at that time had reduced her antipsychotic medication without monitoring the effects. She had tried to take her own life after I was born, so afraid of being a bad mother that she thought it would be better if she exited, but I had no idea that she was managing life with depression that turned into bipolar disorder in my teens. She never harmed me. Quite the opposite — I was loved and supported by both my parents. But I do remember, and live with, the stigma that surrounds people with mental illness and everyone who loves them.
After the attack my mother was arrested, obliterated out of her mind. The media went wild, and she became the town monster. The magnitude of what she had done and the fear it elicited was everywhere. Others in the neighborhood began monitoring my family. They wanted to make sure the monster was put away for life. People I had known since I was a kid turned against us.
Restorative justice values and strives to honor the needs of everyone involved in the most humane ways possible and in a safe environment — those who commit crimes, and those who suffer from them. In so doing, it brings humanity back into the justice system. It converts a limited worldview based around isolation and individualism into a much more positive vision that is rooted in honesty, accountability, and the visible connection of causes with effects. And it works in concrete terms by drastically reducing recidivism and costs. Most important of all, it nurtures new relationships and a strong sense of human unity. In that sense, the root power of restorative justice is love expressed in action.
This is not to shy away from the need for accountability or regret. I cannot overstate the utter sadness that I and my family have felt for what happened ever since, the desire to take away the pain from my mom’s victim and those who love her. The empathy and care we felt and still feel has never had a chance to be fully seen or expressed given the shambles of a criminal justice system that pits people against one another to further detriment and destruction — not to mention the total lack of opportunities for a mentally ill person to try to communicate their authentic feelings and reach for accountability under the harrowing conditions of imprisonment, where they are denied proper psychiatric treatment. This has been a hex for us all.
My mom was put on trial in the spring of 1996. I testified that she was not a criminal, but has a mental illness. I stand by that to this day. The court was cold and bifurcating: divided aisles, and a mix of fear, judgment and unspoken hatred mingling in the air. The judge ruled that my mother did not belong in prison due to her illness, and she was sentenced to house arrest and stringent rules for probation. If she violated them, she’d face 15 years in jail. And that’s when the neighborhood witch hunt resumed in earnest.
In 1996 and 1997, the Probation Officer received slews of calls about my mother’s case, falsely reporting violations. One group of neighbors followed my family around like bloodhounds, and one day at a water aerobics class at the local YMCA they found out that her caretaker had gone back to the locker room because she had a cold. Although my mom was in the pool with other responsible adults, this was one of the things cited by the group as a violation of her probation.
She was summoned to a hearing and from there to prison to begin her sentence (the judge who had issued a clear ruling against incarceration at the initial trial was now up for a possible spot on the state Supreme Court, and this may have influenced his decision). I remember the day she was taken away very clearly. My father and I sat with her. “Molly, you have to live your life — go on,” she told me. That was the last time I saw her outside of prison until 2014. It was 1999. I was 29 years old.
I visited my mother at the Pocatello Women’s Correctional Center in Eastern Idaho, a dank university town with a strange oppression in the air. The prison is located as far as possible from most of Idaho’s other major cities, which is a common pattern in American society — to make it as hard as possible to keep up any kind of contact or relationship with incarcerated family members. My mom became another number, 48985 to be exact.
Idaho's Pocatello Womens Correctional Center (PWCC) where the author's mother spent 15 years.
In the western world prisons have become de facto asylums. Data are very difficult to gather, but it’s estimated that over half the prison population in the USA are mentally ill. At Pocatello, female prisoners shared a host of human rights violations with me: one belly-chained at her child’s birth with an officer watching the whole proceedings. Others forced to strip naked and be probed in their vagina or anus on suspicion of hiding items. Women with babies and small children who were not allowed extended or overnight visits. Mentally ill prisoners like my mother who were punished in the ‘hole’ — placed in solitary confinement — for being honest about their symptoms. On and on, repeat ad nauseam.
In our failure to acknowledge everybody’s shadow side we act out our fears on the most vulnerable members of society. We scapegoat the mentally ill and treat them as though everything is their fault. We are unwilling to acknowledge the sickness that imprisons us in our own patterns of projection. Afraid to face the truth, we cannot enact true or lasting change. Transformation is only possible if we set ourselves free from these limitations and acknowledge the injustice that lies at the heart of the justice system.
My own work as an advocate for restorative justice emerged from these experiences. I saw needs go unmet for decades for everyone involved. I saw no chance of healing, or even of the slightest opening towards it in the prison system. I knew that what I’d experienced was the exact opposite of justice. Justice is respect and communication, and true accountability and reparation. It means distinguishing the individual as separate from their crime and the harm it has caused, and truthfully evaluating the unique conditions that inform a person’s actions. Justice is helping all people — including offenders — to be and feel accountable for what they have done, and to work together to make things right.
I can’t be anything but grateful for the opportunity to choose love over fear again and again throughout the last 25 years, and to live out that commitment in my work. I’ve done everything I can to respect and understand how my mother’s actions have affected others in the community, and to listen to the often ugly, revenge-based messages I’ve received from strangers. I know that housing 25 per cent of the world’s prisoners in American jails when only five per cent of the world’s population lives in the USA is both morally wrong and substantively ineffective as the basis for justice and reconciliation. I know that corporations with vested interests are passionate about filling every prison bed. I know that punishment only exacerbates the problem.
I know that stories like my mom’s must be held and heard safely to provide the raw material for healing. I know that people do not heal when they are pitted against each other and made to play a ruthless game of blame and shame. I know that by humanizing those stories we release the possibility of redemption, and come to understand our shared humanity. Without doubt, I know that restorative justice makes real the fact that conflict, pain, suffering and crime are part of all our existence. They constitute our shadow side.
Facing those shadows head on, naming them, and valuing people for who they are and not for the crimes they have committed, opens the way to offer a renewed sense of belonging to those we realize we have discarded. As Carl Jung once wrote, “if [we] only learn to deal with [our] own shadow [we] have done something real for the world. We have succeeded in shouldering at least an infinitesimal part of the gigantic, unsolved social problems of our day.”
Thank you to Liane Rozzell for permissions to repost & distribute openly on behalf of Restorative Arlington. -Ed.
The Restorative Arlington initiative is a countywide, cross-sector effort to
bring the benefits of restorative justice practices to Arlington. Starting in late
April 2020, a dedicated group of 45 people who live, work, worship, teach,
study and volunteer in Arlington County, Virginia, began to explore how to
adopt restorative justice practices in Arlington’s schools, legal system, and
community contexts.
These Restorative Arlington working group members
met for more than 1,300 person-hours over six months, learning from
experts in both nearby communities and other parts of the country.
This strategic plan emerged from that work. In it, we outline the vision and
principles that will guide the Restorative Arlington initiative going forward.
It is the general framework for the more detailed implementation efforts
that we are starting to develop. We hope it informs and inspires you to
support and engage with the Restorative Arlington initiative.
Restorative Justice on The Rise is grateful to its global community of speakers, faculty, practitioners, participants and advocates. We thought you might like to see a one-page synopsis of our public, free offerings along with the tuition or fee-based education and consults we've put in place to offset the podcast and free aspects of our service to advocacy, movement building, dialogue, and connection.
La Justicia Restaurativa en The Rise está agradecida a su comunidad global de oradores, profesores, profesionales, participantes y defensores. Pensamos que le gustaría ver una sinopsis de una página de nuestras ofertas públicas y gratuitas, junto con la matrícula o la educación basada en tarifas, y consultas que hemos puesto en marcha para compensar el podcast y los aspectos gratuitos de nuestro servicio a la promoción, la construcción de movimientos, el diálogo y las consultas que hemos puesto en marcha para compensar el podcast y los aspectos gratuitos de nuestro servicio a la promoción, la construcción del movimiento, el diálogo y Conexión.
Restorative Justice on The Rise est reconnaissante à sa communauté mondiale de conférenciers, de professeurs, de praticiens, de participants et de défenseurs. Nous avons pensé que vous aimeriez voir un résumé d'une page de nos offres publiques, gratuites ainsi que les frais de scolarité ou d'éducation basée sur les frais et les consultations que nous avons mis en place pour compenser le podcast et les aspects gratuits de notre service à la défense, la construction de mouvements, le dialogue, et Connexion.
A survey of 500 Defendants about Restorative Justice: Their Awareness of and Interest in participating in Restorative Justice
Abstract
Gretchen Casey
This 2018 study examines defendant awareness about restorative justice and defendant interest in participating in restorative conversations with victims of their crimes. Using a non probability convenience sample of individuals sentenced to prison and individuals serving probation, 500 individuals who identified as defendants in criminal cases were asked to complete a 4 question survey about their awareness of Restorative Justice (RJ) and their personal interest in participating in RJ if it was available in their criminal case. The results of the survey are shared publicly in the hopes it will inspire further study by researchers within both academic and prison institutions. Our hope is that this survey will bring increased attention to the needs of victims and the accountability that restorative justice and the Florida criminal justice system can invite, support, and offer to offenders as a means to repair and prevent reoccurring harm. This study was funded by the River Phoenix Center for Peacebuilding (RPCP) and conducted in 2018 and authored by Gretchen Casey, RPCP Director of Restorative Justice Outreach and Training.
Questions and inquiries can be emailed to RPCP here
The Colorado Restorative Justice Coalition, in partnership with the University of Denver, has recently released a report that outlines key areas of progress and of need.
We must face violent crime honestly and courageously if we are ever to end mass incarceration and provide survivors what they truly want and need to heal.
In this piece that we highly recommend, Ms. Alexander, a friend and former guest of Restorative Justice on The Rise, speaks to the viability of RJ in violent crime cases, which is a topic not often confronted in this growing field, for many obvious reasons. We love this article and hope you'll surf to the NYT link here to read in full.
If you are looking to find an active and engaging online community, you might appreciate as we do the Restorative Circles Facebook group conversation page. If you are new to the global work of RC and Dominic Barter, you might also appreciate visiting the website
In addition, Restorative Justice on The Rise has had multiple opportunities to dialogue with and interview Dominic Barter and some of his colleagues--find those podcasts in our Archives (free to download and also available at iTunes)
Restorative justice practices include exploring the power of self regulation and how to practice regulation specific to our needs in order to better navigate conflict when it arises. The Institute of HeartMath has researched coherence and how the heart is in fact our "second brain", comprising of neurons and characteristics similar to our more northern organ often considered to be the primary director of our manifest actions and choices. IHM's research shows that our heart, and its torroidal field, impact our ability to increase capacity to navigate conflict, amplify climates of peace, and to gain a deeper understanding of the science-based studies in this significant field that has the potential to shift and increase our ability to match restorative values with our actual practices.
This is a repost from HeartMath's website. For the full post and to find out more please surf to the original page here.
To provide connection, advocacy, education and inspired action as a public service to individuals and communities seeking to proactively improve relationships and structures within their spheres and our world.
Restorative Justice on The Rise is an international live dialogue via Webcast and Telecouncil platform, held weekly, reaching an international constituency of a wide spectrum of invididuals, organizations, professionals, academics, practitioners, and beyond.
Restorative Justice on the Rise is an international live dialogue via Webcast and Telecouncil platform that reaches an international constituency of invididuals, organizations, professionals, academics, practitioners, and more. The mission is to provide connection, advocacy, education and inspired action as a public service to individuals and communities seeking to proactively improve relationships and structures within their spheres and our world.
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