Justice alternative lets community deal with offenders

Mennonite Central Committee
Tuesday, 6 March 2001

HAPPY VALLEY, Labrador -- The Newfoundland and Labrador justice system is finally taking steps towards accepting alternatives to the court system.

The first Community Justice Forum took place last fall in Labrador. "The province of Newfoundland is the last province to even look at this process," said Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) volunteer Bill Stevenson, a committee member and trained facilitator.

The Community Justice Forums are an RCMP-driven initiative designed to keep people out of the legal system.

For a forum to take place, the offender must admit to the crime, and both offender and victim must agree to participate. Then the offender, victim and their families or supporters are brought together under the guidance of a trained facilitator. They talk about the offence, how it has affected them, and together devise a plan to correct the wrong. This may mean restitution, community service work, or perhaps addictions treatment.

Stevenson said the Forums encourage offenders to take responsibility for their behaviour, while helping them reintegrate into their community. "The philosophy is that the community is the best way to deal with offending behaviour," said Stevenson.

Stevenson said the existing system is expensive and slow, and doesn't encourage real healing between victim and offender.

As well, in his experience in Labrador, alcohol is often a factor in crime. Yet at the Labrador Correctional Centre in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, where Stevenson regularly visits, he said very few programs of any kind exist for inmates when they first arrive. "It makes sense to treat the disease. But locking them up isn't doing that," he said.

So far, the offenders referred to the Community Justice Forums by the RCMP have been charged for offenses, such as vandalism and other minor infractions.

Training for the Labrador pilot project took place this summer and a local committee was formed in fall.

So far five forums have been held in the Happy Valley-Goose Bay area and a number along the north coast of Labrador. "As far as we know all of the forums except one was totally successful. The key ingredients of restitution and reconciliation happen in most forums," said Stevenson.

If the pilot project in Labrador is successful, Stevenson said the concept could spread to the rest of Newfoundland.

For more information, or to contact Mennonite Central Committee, see their website at: www.mcc.org