Include family members in restorative justice process – facilitator

Kenneth Wilson, community liaison officer from the Ministry of Justice’s Restorative Justice Unit assigned to August Town, is lobbying for family members to be included in the restorative justice process to reduce the possibility of reprisals.

He noted that much of the violent acts that are carried out in the eastern St Andrew community are acts of retaliation by persons connected to conflicts in various ways.

“If we are able to get the people who have lost loved ones in a particular programme with restorative justice, we will be able to present a lot of the problems with reprisal,” said Wilson, who is a trained restorative justice facilitator.

“I live here, it doesn’t matter what kind of problems you are bringing, if we don’t address that, we are in trouble,” he said. Such a sitting would also present the opportunity for families of the perpetrator to also become a part of the process to quell tension and possible conflict that may arise between each other.

Inspector Michael Train from the August Town Police Station backs this plea, so that all parties can have an understanding and come to an agreement on the way forward and away from conflict.

“What you find is that the festering of some perceived injustice that was meted out to an individual keeps lingering, and it is carried on by other family members in most cases,” he explained.

A new programme is under way to reel in relatives and other persons involved or hurt by the act committed, The Gleaner understands.

In accordance with the implementation of social infrastructure that will be coming forth from the building phase of the zones of special operation, Inspector Train mentioned that is it imperative to educate the residents as a long-term preventative measure. He argued that the education of the residents will help them to fully understand the repercussions of certain actions and assist them to respond in an amicable way.

Community Restructuring

Additionally, he is looking forward to the restructuring of the community, as footpaths and incomplete developments have challenged the efficiency of the police. “There is no proper layout of the communities because people just capture places,” he explained.

Peace builders have been engaging residents in sensitisation sessions and providing brochures with the necessary information for them to make restorative justice the chosen option. The first restorative justice centre that was built in August Town in 2013 was relocated to Gordon Town Road because of the lack of space to facilitate the sessions. After a fire destroyed that building in 2018, the service was being provided at the Ministry of Justice.

“I have great hopes for this programme here in August Town, and I have confidence in the persons who are going to be manning the centre,” said Fayval Williams, member of parliament for St Andrew Eastern, at the opening of the new restorative justice centre on 83 August Town Road.

“Violence erupts, that’s what we see, but we don’t see the many missed conversations that happened before the eruption, and that is what we want to curtail at this centre,” she said.

Williams said she is looking forward to moving into the building of physical and social infrastructure to formalise the community and present the residents with more opportunities. Plans are being made for the regularising of water and electricity, the fixing of the road, the removal of zinc fences and the building of sidewalks.

Williams added that a green space will be created to facilitate low-risk interaction.