Volunteers are currently being sought for Sanford’s new Restorative Justice initiative, which provides community members the perfect chance to get involved in an effort that could really turn a young person’s life around.
This program would help youth who have committed a minor criminal offense by connecting them with the community and giving them a chance to make amends and find support in leading a healthier lifestyle. A panel of community members would be trained to sit down with a young offender and the victim of his or her crime. The victim would be able to look the prepetrator in the eye and let them know just how the crime impacted them.
The panel would then decide what action would be appropriate for the young person to make amends. Once the proposed restitution is complete, the youth meets with the panel again to talk about what they’ve learned.
An approach such as this will undoubtedly help to show young people that they are part of community and that other people care that they become contributing members of their communities ”“ rather than criminals who may eventually be sent to prison.
For the youth, having an opportunity like this to meet with the person who was the victim of their crime might help open their eyes to the harm they inflict when they break the law. It’s easy to steal from someone you’ve never met or vandalize their property when you don’t have a concept of how that will impact them. For most of us, that acknowledgment of how it would feel to be similarly harmed holds us to the Golden Rule, but for misguided youth who may not have internalized that world view yet, this program will help to drive that rule home.
Meeting with the victim of their crime helps to humanize the justice process, and we hope all involved are mature enough to be civil in these panel meetings, keeping the focus on helping these young people redirecting their lives, rather than on retribution for the crime. It’s easy to be angry when “some young punk” ruins your property or hurts you or your family in some way, but a slap on the wrist for the offense does little more than give a young person “street cred” amongst criminal peers. Restorative justice is the more mature ”“ and more effective ”“ approach, keeping in mind the background from which these youth come and the limited opportunities they may have encountered so far.
This program will be a great way to connect the community and bring back that village concept of raising a child, of local people making local justice decisions for “their own.” In this day and age of Internet use and email, it’s strange to be so connected and yet feel so alone in our own towns. There is no substitute for person-to-person contact, and if young people can be reached out to and made to know that they are an important part of the real life community, perhaps they will feel a greater stake in that community ”“ and rather than trashing it, they’ll help improve it, and improve themselves in the process.
We hope the police department is inundated with volunteers who are willing to lend a compassionate ear and a just, reasonable mind to this process and help these youth before it’s too late for them to turn back from a life of crime. We applaud Sanford Police Chief Thomas Connolly for taking the first steps to get this program started, and we wish it much success.
Questions? Comments? Contact Managing Editor Kristen Schulze Muszynski by calling 282-1535, Ext. 322, or via e-mail at kristenm@journaltribune.com.
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