Spinning the plates of Restorative Justice
This is a blog by our Strategic Programmes Manager, Kate Aldous.
I’ve been at Why me? for nearly six months already! So it’s a good time to pause and review.
I have learnt a huge amount, largely about Restorative Justice and restorative practice, met some great people including Peter Woolf, practitioner Alex Hyatt, who has generously shared his expertise on Restorative Justice for hate crime, and too many others to name, but my thanks to all of you for your generosity with your time and expertise.
The more I learn about Restorative Justice and its impact, the more important I think it is. Which makes Why me?’s aim to increase awareness of and access to Restorative Justice more important too.
We have the statistics demonstrating it transforms both harmers and harmed people. But more powerful than these statistics, important as they are, are the stories of those who have been involved in Restorative Justice, and how it brought healing, closure, and understanding to all involved. To me, this is the magic of Restorative Justice – its ability to create connection between people, and through this connection, transform. Yet, people who could benefit from Restorative Justice don’t know about it – and that’s what Why me? seeks to change.
Six months in, my enthusiasm for Restorative Justice has grown stronger! And I am not alone – Why me? is supported by numerous people in the Restorative Justice world (our volunteer facilitators, ambassadors, academics and practitioners) who give their time and expertise because they too see the importance of what we do – not just spreading the word, but targeting communities and crime types underrepresented in Restorative Justice services.
I am currently working on a project raising the profile of Restorative Justice as an effective intervention for LGBTQ+ hate crime. A lack of awareness is one of many reasons why Restorative Justice does not often get used. With LGBTQ+ hate crime, there are many additional ones, such as a distrust of the police; a fear of being outed; its frequency, and “normalisation”.
When Restorative Justice is used, when someone is confronted with the pain they have caused to someone, and its impact on their community (an attack on someone’s identity is a threat to anyone of that identity), they are usually remorseful, and commit to not repeating their behaviour, which means fewer victims. Victims so often say “I don’t want this to happen to anyone else”, and we will continue to work to ensure they know that Restorative Justice can achieve this, demonstrated in the case study below:
It was the second time Ben* had been abusive to Linda*, a trans woman. He saw her at the supermarket, shouted abuse and this time also threatened assault.
The Restorative Justice facilitators went to see Linda. She didn’t trust the police, and didn’t want to prosecute. She explained that by shouting abuse, Ben had outed her to other people, which puts her at risk from others, in addition to the impact of his own behaviour. She described herself as a strong woman, but said that not everyone in the trans community is. Such behaviour leads to a sense of fear and vulnerability, and contributes to high levels of self-harm and suicide.
She said she didn’t want to be friends, or for him to be friendly, but to continue as they had before and ignore each other. She did not want to meet Ben, but wanted him to know how his behaviour had affected her.
This was relayed to Ben, who agreed to comply with her preferred way forward. Ben expressed remorse. He hadn’t thought about the impact, especially the increased risk. He committed to not repeat this behaviour.
*Names have been changed.
Why me? also carries out important and ground-breaking work on Restorative Justice for:
- People who speak English as an Additional Language and working with interpreters
- Domestic and sexual violence
- Young people
All of these projects seek to bring the benefits of Restorative Justice to a wider and more diverse audience through understanding their different needs, and the obstacles they encounter. Everyone should be offered a referral to Restorative Justice, but evidence shows less than 10% are.
Switching focus from the magic of Restorative Justice to the job itself, the main impact has been going back – after about 20 years – to working for a really small organisation with limited resources! Why me? currently has 4 staff working a total of 14 days between them. Those of you who work in similar sized organisations will know how much juggling that means – staff member sick? It’s down to the three of you to keep all their plates spinning in addition to your own, nevermind how busy your week and how many deadlines you have. IT not working? Which of you can take on that extra plate as well, and still not drop any of those you are already frantically spinning? Not to mention the massive platter that is funding, which demands increasingly large amounts of attention, with decreasing returns.
Fortunately, the plate spinning is shared between a talented, committed and supportive staff, volunteer and trustee team. Together, we manage to keep breakages to a minimum, even in the most challenging times! The small staff team means work is very varied, and doesn’t get dull. You never quite know what the day will bring. I can be trying to fix the printer one minute, talking to a Restorative Justice expert, MP or service user the next, and a few hours later approving payments, followed by presenting on Why me?s work to a network of Youth Justice Service workers.
Even on the busiest of days, when my spinning plates are decidedly wobbly, my belief in Restorative Justice’s ability to transform, and to help us “do justice” better, keeps me motivated and enthusiastic. If you want to discuss Why me?’s work, please contact me at kate.aldous@why-me.org.