SEEKING SOLUTIONS

Saanich police support the idea of a program that brings victims of crime
together with the perpetrators to seek common solutions.

Called restorivative justice, the concept isn't new in British Columbia.
There are over 70 community restorative justice programs already operating
in B.C., including one on the peninsula, and their popularity is growing.
"We believe in the concept," Saanich Police Department Inspector Sherry
Dwyer says. "They've worked really well in the past. It's a very positive
project for everybody, the offender, the community and the victim." Last
year, The Saanich police had a pilot project for a restorative justice
program in for their youth division. The program was a success, claims Dwyer.

Unfortunately, the community group who was providing volunteers and
resources for the project folded before the police could expand the project
to all of their patrol. But, the police are determined to proceed.
Councilors, police and community groups in Saanich are all supportive of
the idea, and a program could be in place by as early as next spring.
Currently, the police are collecting and reviewing proposals from two
community groups, the John Howard Society and Restorative Justice -
Saanich, who are willing to provide the facilitators who oversee the main
component of any restorative justice program, the face-to-face meeting
between victim and offender.

Restorative Justice as a concept has been around since the mid-eighties,
starting in Australia and New Zealand. It's a program that operates on the
philosophy that the justice system is better served by the offender
repairing the harm done to a victim rather than spending time in jail. The
offender has a chance to redeem themselves and develop a sense of
responsibility, while the victim receives some recompense for their loss.
Coun. Carol Pickup recently spoke out in favour of restorative justice
programs at the annual convention of Union of B.C. Municipalities (UBCM),
the body that represents the political will of towns and cities across the
province.

"I told them restorative justice was a much better way to go than the (new
provincial) legislation to force parents to pay for children's offenses,"
she says. "They (the kids) should be made responsible, not the parents."
The UBCM passed a resolution requesting the provincial government to
continue to financially support restorative justice programs. The province
currently provides $5,000 start-up grants for communities starting a
program, but there are fears those grants - currently under review - could
be eliminated.

For Pickup, restorative justice makes good common sense, a phrase that is
often attached to the programs which bypass lawyers, courts and jails and
encourage volunteers from a variety of backgrounds to try their hand at
facilitating.

Advocates of restorative justice like to point out that the $5,000
provincial start-up grants pale in comparison to the cost to send a simple
minor criminal offence through the courts - $2,500.

Etta Connor is a facilitator for the Peninsula Cross Roads Community
Justice Program, which cooperates with the Central Saanich police, the
Sidney and North Saanich RCMP detachments and School District 63. Connor
openly raves about their program, which the Saanich community might copy.

It's the exchange between offender and victim that she finds most
rewarding. "That's where the impact is strongest," she says, describing the
empathy that often flows between the two sides of the crime. "Emotions run
high and we don't discourage that unless people start to talk
disrespectfully. At the end of the meeting we serve coffee and cookies and
people will often shake hands. There are hugs and more apologies. It's a
social breaking of bread." "It's just a human process," she said. "When you
give a chance for people to hear how you hurt them, people are not so
hard-hearted that they don't feel it."

Her enthusiasm is backed up by statistics. In the peninsula program, 95 per
cent of the offenders complete the conditions to make amends to the victim.
In a similar program in Chiliwack, 80 per cent of youth that go through the
program are never seen by the RCMP again.

The peninsula program is geared toward youths, but is available to anyone
who has committed a minor criminal offence such as theft, fraud, vandalism
or selling marijuana.

The police decide whether to propose restorative justice rather than send
the accused through the courts. However the process is voluntary; the
accused can choose the courts, especially if they feel they have been
wrongly accused.

If an accused agrees to try restorative justice, a facilitator from the
Peninsula Cross Roads steps in to interview them as well as the victim, the
police and school officials, before setting up a conference between all of
the parties.

In the meeting, the victim expresses how the crime affected them what
they'd like to see done to make amends. Connor points out that the victim
often asks the offender to give a speech to a community school about the
problems associated with their crime.

Similarly, schools will step in as the victim of a drug trafficking case,
asking the offender to provide community services or give talks to kids
about the dangers of drugs.

According to Connor, the police and facilitator help keep the victim's
demands reasonable and practical, which in her experience, hasn't been much
of a problem.

Dana Marchant is a child psychologist who has a background working with
juvenile delinquents. She describes her interest in restorative justice as
"an ongoing passion." She is co-chair of Restorative Justice - Saanich, who
are closely associated with the Peninsula Cross Roads Justice Program. She
is excited and delighted by the openness of the Saanich community to try
something new.

The concept that kids learn from punishment is wrong, she says. "Kids don't
generalize like that. They don't understand the impact of their actions.
It's about learning from an emotional base."

This is especially effective with crimes like vandalism and shoplifting
which are faceless crimes, she says.

"When a kid has a face that goes with the crime, they learn the hardship
that their goofiness has had."

Pickup has encouraged the SPD to incorporate restorative justice into their
long-term planning, and will be pressing to see the creation a functional
program in Saanich.

"When the police come up with their five-year plan, I'll be looking for it
to be there," she says emphatically.