On March 19, on behalf of the Archdiocese, CCSJ submitted a response to the Ministry of Justice’s (MOJ) Discussion Paper on Restorative Justice in T&T. CCSJ collaborated with Fr Robert Christo, the Catholic Prison Chaplain, in preparing our Church’s response. Over the next few weeks, CCSJ will present our response to the MOJ in this column. Here is the first installment:
CCSJ agrees with the MOJ that the development of a Restorative Justice (RJ) policy, “in conjunction with other policies, can aid in the strengthening and transformation of the criminal justice system” in T&T. As Catholics, our commitment to promote the sanctity of life and the dignity of the human person compels us to stand with both the victim and the offender. This does not mean that offenders should not be accountable to society for the harm they have caused.
But as Blessed John Paul II said: The penal system must conform “both to the dignity of the human person and to the effective maintenance of public order…Prison should be a place of redemption… Not to promote the interests of prisoners would be to make imprisonment a mere act of vengeance on the part of society…”
The Catholic Church teaches that punishment for a crime, “in addition to defending public order and protecting people’s safety, has a medicinal purpose: As far as possible, it must contribute to the correction of the guilty party.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, no 2266).
In August 2012, at a Symposium on Crime and Punishment, Archbishop José H Gomez of Los Angeles, while recognising that “we need to acknowledge the pain, loss and sadness of the victims of crime”, rightly asked: “How we can offer those who break our laws a chance to redeem themselves and be restored to their families and society… Our Catholic tradition leads us to try to balance justice and mercy in dealing with those who break society’s laws. For us, punishment must be more than making criminals ‘pay’ for their crimes. Punishment should protect society, defend the public order, and restore harmony in the social relationships disrupted by crimes.
“But our punishments must also be ‘medicinal.’ Our punishments must contribute to the moral correction and education of criminals. We must seek to ‘restore’ them as productive members of society…This work of ‘restorative justice’ is vital to the Church’s mission of creating a city of love and truth and a culture of peace and reconciliation.
“It’s not easy to love those who commit violence and other crimes. But Jesus calls us to love our enemies. That includes those who make themselves our enemies by threatening our safety and the decency and common good of our society. So as we pray for one another this week, let’s ask for the grace to remember that those who break our laws are still children of God…Loving the guilty means we can never give up on them. We need to always be seeking the conversion and repentance of criminals and those already behind bars. We need to get these people to take responsibility for their actions and to make restitution. But we also need to get them to change their lives – so they can live with the dignity and purpose for which God made them.”
Here in T&T all stakeholders in the criminal justice system should address issues such as:
- What moral vision does T&T bring to the marketplace in relation to its treatment of those who have been charged and await trial, as well as those who have been convicted and sentenced to incarceration?
- What vision do we have of rehabilitating and returning to society – after incarceration – productive and law-abiding citizens who are willing to serve their family, community and country?
- How can T&T provide earlier, more effective intervention. e.g. with those at-risk (before an offence is committed) and when people first offend?
- How will we prevent areas becoming ‘Hot Spots’ and how will we deal with ‘Hot Spots’?
- What strategies can we adopt to promote meaningful partnerships between all those involved in the Criminal Justice System to deliver a faster, more efficient system, e.g. from arrest to sentence? (We must find ways to ensure that all the criminal justice agencies work together to produce better results).
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We are bound by our common humanity. Therefore, our interdependence and interrelationships, as Howard Zehr, a key proponent of an RJ approach, states, “imply mutual obligations and responsibilities.” It is fitting, therefore, that we should ask: “What do we need to do to move our Criminal Justice System along the RJ continuum?” Remember, it is a continuum. It is time for us in T&T to be more creative and embrace the concept of RJ, which is a philosophical paradigm shift.
