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Date : 23/11/2003
Source: Ministry of Correctional Services
Title: Skosana: Rhema Bible Church


SPEECH BY THE MINISTER OF CORRECTIONAL SERVICES, MR BEN M SKOSANA, MP, AT THE RHEMA BIBLE CHURCH, 23 November 2003

RESTORING RELATIONSHIPS FOR SUCCESSFUL REINTEGRATION

Programme Director
Pastor Ray McCauley
Commissioner Linda Mti
Management and Staff of Correctional Services
Distinguished Congregants
Ladies and Gentlemen

There are signs that restorative justice approaches are joining the mainstream of justice around the world. Intergovernmental bodies are taking note of restorative justice. In 1999, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted a recommendation on the use of mediation in penal matters. The United Nations' International Handbook on Justice for Victims notes that "the framework for restorative justice involves the offender, the victim, and the entire community in efforts to create a balanced approach that is offender directed and, at the same time, victim-centred".

Victim compensation has become a key feature of restorative justice in many developed countries.

The number of restorative programmes is growing. There are more than 500 mediation programmes and projects in Europe, and over 300 in the United States. A Canadian survey of restorative programmes and projects in that country resulted in over 100 listings.

In traditional African society, legal proceedings are community affairs aimed at reconciling the parties and restoring harmonious relations within the community. The restorative philosophy is still alive among the indigenous African populations of Africa. It is nowhere better illustrated than in South Africa where, after 400 years of colonisation, it continues to operate both in a pre-colonial form in rural areas such as among the Thembu in the Eastern Cape, and in adapted forms of community courts in the townships.

It is evident that the concept of restorative justice is not entirely new in South Africa and there are some instances where the principles are already being applied to some extent. These include:

* The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC)
* The Victim Empowerment Programme
* Community Service
* The Child Justice Bill.

Restorative justice is also found in the Bible, in Micah 6:8 we read: "Do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with your God".

In Luke 19:1-10 we read about Jesus and Zacchaeus, a dishonest tax collector. Zacchaeus repented and agreed to pay back his victims. Jesus then helped the crowd understand the reconciling power of biblical or restorative justice.

In May 2000 our department's Management Board adopted the restorative justice approach, as one of its key strategies in the rehabilitation of offenders.

In November 2001 restorative justice was officially launched by the department towards strengthening the rehabilitation of offenders. The launch involved representatives from other state departments, business, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), community-based organisations (CBOs), faith-based organisations (FBOs), perpetrators, victims and the community.

The Department of Correctional Services envisages that by embracing the principle of restorative justice, the healing of victims, offenders and communities will be promoted. The emphasis will be on holding the offenders directly accountable to the people they have violated and providing opportunities for dialogue and restoration of relationships.

This approach would assist in elevating the role of the victims, their families and community members through more active involvement in the justice process. It also promises the creation of conducive conditions that promote healing, reparation and reconciliation.

This will assist the department to identify and correct the offending behaviour, develop offenders to be law-abiding, productive citizens and to promote protection and stability within society, in partnership with the community and relevant role players.

In its quest to contribute to the creation of a conducive environment, in which victims and offenders may resolve their conflicts and reconcile with one another, the Department of Correctional Services has taken strides to create a common understanding of the concept.

At this point I would like us to pause and ask ourselves what we are talking about when we say "restorative justice". Our current justice system does not pursue healing as its primary goal, but punishment, leaving the victim, their families and the community out in the cold. What is needed in response to criminal behaviour is more healing, not more hurting.

The restorative justice approach outlines an alternative philosophy, which requires correctional services to devote attention to:

* Enabling offenders to make amends to their victims and the community
* Increasing the offender's competencies
* Protecting the public through processes in which individual victims, the community, and offenders are all active participants.

The restorative justice approach responds to many issues including concerns that victims have little input into the resolutions of their own cases, rarely feel heard, and often receive no restitution or expression of remorse from the offender.

The restorative justice approach is based on the understanding of crime as an act against the victim and the community. It gives a voice to those who have been silenced by traditional Western justice.

There is no single definition that can embrace all of the available perspectives on restorative justice, however, the following definition could help to build a picture of restorative justice. In the context of the Department of Correctional Services, restorative justice could be described as:

A restorative response to crime. It emphasises the importance of the role of the victims, families and community members through more active involvement in justice process holding correctional clients directly accountable to the people they have violated and restoring the losses/harm suffered by victims. It provides an opportunity for mediation, dialogue, negotiation and problem solving which could lead to healing, a greater sense of safety, and enhanced correctional client re-integration into the community.

The Department of Correctional Services upholds the view that through restorative justice, correction, both as self-correction and correction of others, is inherent in good citizenship. Correction should be seen not merely as a mandate of a particular organ of state, but as a societal responsibility of all social institutions and individuals, starting within the family, the educational and religious institutions, the sporting and cultural institutions, and a range of government departments, the criminal justice system and the Department of Correctional Services (DCS).

Therefore, crime prevention and correction start within the family and the community as the primary and secondary levels. The government's criminal justice system is the tertiary level in which corrections take place. The prevention of recidivism is best achieved through correction and development as opposed to punishment and treatment.

Restorative justice is linked to the aim of government of promoting social justice and social cohesion. It should also be understood within the government priority of promoting integrated governance towards maintaining and protecting a just, peaceful and safe society in our country by upholding the law and justice system and promoting the social responsibility and human development of all citizens.

The restorative justice approach aims to bring together the offender, victim, families and the community in looking for ways to make things right again after an offence has occurred.

Another aim would be to create peace in communities by reconciling the parties and repairing the injuries caused by the crime. It should facilitate active participation by victims, offenders and their communities in order to find solutions to the conflict.

The implementation of restorative justice must begin with consensus building among key stakeholders. A conference was organised in November 2002 to give effect to the need for greater cooperation between the different cluster partners of Justice, Crime Prevention and Security (JCPS) Cluster, which is comprised of the DCS, Justice and Constitutional Development, Social Development and the South African Police Service.

We also engage with various NGOs in the field of restorative justice to bring together key stake holders and all relevant role players. The purpose of the conference was to enhance greater cooperation amongst all stake holders, raise awareness on the restorative justice approach and principles amongst key decision makers, highlight the moral regeneration campaign, look at ways to implement and make restorative justice practical.

A number of NGOs, for example Khulisa, Restorative Justice Centre, National Institute for Crime Prevention and Reintegration (Nicro), etc. are currently involved in restorative justice initiatives in the department's Correctional Centres.

Khulisa is running a victim-offender mediation programme with parolees and is also involved in finding employment for ex-offenders with various private sector companies. The Restorative Justice Centre is assisting in awareness raising campaigns, victim-offender mediation and training of offenders in restorative justice.

Since the official launch of restorative justice in the department in November 2001, we have embarked on a number of awareness raising campaigns in our correctional centres nationally. We have also had awareness raising campaigns amongst offenders, correctional officers and the community in the Free State, Mpumalanga and Limpopo.

During the annual Restorative Justice Week, awareness-raising campaigns are conducted amongst all role players. A similar mass church service was held last year in Mamelodi to take corrections to the community inviting them to join hands with DCS in strengthening rehabilitation and begin the path of reconciliation and healing.

With this initiative, the department acknowledges that the community is the primary resource in responding to crime in a restorative justice framework, as it is the point of entry and exit for the offender.

After some of these awareness-raising campaigns, a number of offenders came forward with requests to meet their victims in order to apologise to them and seek their forgiveness.

These cases were referred to trained mediators from different NGOs for victim-offender mediation.

With the introduction of the new parole boards, victims will be invited to attend the parole board hearing of their offenders to make representations. This is in line with our Victim Empowerment Programme where victims of crime or their families will be given a voice, an opportunity to be heard.

The department also actively participates in government's Poverty Alleviation Programme where agricultural produce from correctional centre farms is donated to needy communities. Offenders were also used to build a school in a rural community in Thohoyandou. This has allowed clients to give something back to the community as a form of reconciliation and reparation.

Now that you know what restorative justice is, you may ask the question: How do we as Christians, as a church relate to this "new" transformed model of justice, to the justice system of our country? What is the Christian community's responsibility?

We should follow in the footsteps of Christ and create a new society with new principles and assumptions, which would operate in the midst of, and serve as an example and challenge to the old.

The church has a key role to play in restorative justice. Too often within the church, we have ignored the victims and have responded to wrongdoing with a retributive attitude borrowed from the larger society. We must re-examine the way we are dealing with harm and conflict within the church and create new structures that incorporate a restorative understanding. In this way the church can provide a model to others.

The DCS realises that if we want to introduce restorative justice as an approach in the rehabilitation of offenders, we need to raise awareness amongst our own officials, offenders, victims and the community. We need to create a common understanding and get the buy-in of all role players if we wish to succeed in reconciling victims and offenders.

Rhema Bible Church can assist us by spreading the message of restorative justice and living out its principles in your everyday lives. We can begin by talking about restorative justice and practising it in areas of our lives where we do have some control: within our families, our churches, our daily lives. We have to work together to bring about a shift in paradigm or mindset of the criminal justice system and the broader community who still believe that the retributive system is the only way of dealing with community conflict and crime.

When we operate outside the church's framework, we need to take our restorative lens with us, allowing it to shape and inform what we do.

The church must also lead the way in setting up alternative structures within the old framework. Rhema Church and the different churches must get involved in creating peace in communities by reconciling the parties and repairing the injuries caused by crime.

What the victim is going through in the aftermath of the crime is largely neglected. You should form victim support groups, give victims the opportunity to tell how much trauma they have been through, comfort those who have been hurt and counsel those who have fallen victim to crime like the Samaritan in Luke 10. Victims should be assisted to take control of their lives and be empowered in their search for closure.

The church through its prison ministry has to counsel offenders and guide them to realise and understand the effect their behaviour has had on another person's life, acknowledge the wrongness of their behaviour and the harm and pain they caused their victims.

The church, through spiritual counselling has to help the offender to feel remorse and admit his or her guilt. Help them to feel repentant and a desire to seek the forgiveness of their victims. Encourage offenders to make some form of reparation or restitution to the victim. You should facilitate active participation by victims, offenders and the community in order to find solutions to the conflict.

The church needs to train its members as mediators in order for them to facilitate during victim-offender-mediation sessions.

We need to think carefully about imposing pain in the form of imprisonment. We need to engage those members of society and the criminal justice system that still believe that sending people to prison is the only strategy to combat crime. Prison is not always the best solution to the criminal behaviour that had taken place. So often we have a situation where kids do something foolish, commit a crime and go to prison.

The result is that those kids get lost in the prison system and are pushed further into the criminal culture. We need to look at diversion programmes and alternative sentencing options like community service especially when we deal with young offenders. Communities need to be informed about family group conferencing to deal with disputes as an alternative to the formal legal process when dealing with non-violent and less serious crimes.

The broader church community needs to form circles of support and accountability for released offenders. You need to develop community re-integration projects where members of the community can reach out in love to ex-offenders when they come out of prison, and welcome them back into the neighbourhood. Through this project you can help the ex-offender to act responsibly in the community and assist a safe, orderly adjustment to everyday life in the community.

Let them know that they are not unwanted, unloved outsiders but part of the community. Invite them to join your church and make an effort to let them feel welcome at your services. You will make an impact on recidivism by facilitating the successful reintegration of the ex-offender into the community.

Restorative justice must be something towards which to aim. The place to experience restoration is not from the top but from the bottom, in our own homes and communities. The community of God's people must lead in this direction.

Restorative justice is our vision not only for the prison environment but for the entire country.

Let me conclude by requesting that as we go about our daily lives, looking for the pathways that will help us live in harmony, we do so with the belief that our communities will be better places because of it. Relationships are at the heart of restorative justice, and when we actively use a restorative approach in which people are included and heard, there can be understanding, healing, accountability and a strengthened community.

Restorative Justice Week is a time to gather, to celebrate achievements, to reflect or pray and to vision together new possibilities for healing what is broken in our communities as a result of criminal behaviour and conflict.

When we apply restorative justice principles to real life situations, there can be an experience of justice that satisfies our deepest needs and longings.

May God bless you all.

I thank you.

Issued by: Ministry of Correctional Services
23 November 2003

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