For my last work meeting in this city I meet with Yael Shy, Director of Development and Education at The New York University Center on Violence and Recovery. I first contacted Yael back in March 2009 to set up this meeting and, 30+ emails later and a heap of good-will and co-operation from Yael, I am finally about to meet her to discuss the interesting work she and her boss Linda Mills are conducting. After negotiating with a tricky three year old who doesn’t want to wear red today, losing myself on the subway, jumping in a yellow cab to re-trace my tracks and almost leaving my bag in said cab, I finally arrive at the meeting place. At last, we meet but Yael tells me she has an unavoidable telephone call she has to take and can we re-schedule for an hours time? There is no way I am going to miss this so I find my way to her office at the designated hour and at last we’re on! It was worth the wait as it skilfully ushers in the next chapter to my States Odyssey – namely restorative justice meets domestic violence.
Before I explain about Circles of Peace let me tell you about a shift that has been happening for me for sometime now but was consolidated during my meeting with Yael. Having been a victim of abuse myself, I spent many years identifying with the ‘victim’ position and building up my certainty that I was not to blame for the abuse and that there was nothing ‘wrong’ with me, it was my ex-partners problem. This was a good position to have for this period as it facilitated my anger and my self-preservation instinct. However, as time went on and the fear faded, I started to look at my own story of ‘victim’ and found power for myself in acknowledging what I brought to that a abusive dynamic. Why did I find myself in this relationship? How could I make sure I didn’t find myself in another abusive one? These were difficult questions to ask myself as it acknowledged that I was somehow drawn to this drama for my own needs and by externalising the problem to my partner I would never fully heal from the experience.
A place I have come to then, after a long journey, is that it is possible to divorce the human being from their abusive behaviour and to treat them in a non-blaming, compassionate manner. Some people are genuinely sorry for their behaviour and want to change and punishing them isn’t very effective. Abuse is not necessarily a symptom of the desire for power and control, its learned behaviour and some people know no different. Of course, we all have a choice about how we treat people but we don’t have a choice about how we are brought up. Also people who are abused can also abuse and vice versa. Its can be a messier affair than the criminal justice system would like to admit. To always require a win/lose situation in which one person is totally innocent and one person is totally guilty and therefore punishable, as the CJS requires, is in some instances, too limiting.
So leaving aside the high risk and those relationships in which there is clearly a bullying person involved who feels no remorse….lets talk about Circles of Peace.
Circles of Peace is the first-of-its-kind domestic violence treatment program that uses a restorative justice approach to reduce violent behaviour in families. Restorative Justice emphasises repairing the damage that’s been caused by the criminal behaviour. It is accomplished through co-operative processes that incorporate all the effected parties, including perpetrators and victims who choose to participate, extended family members and crucially, members of the community.
In certain States in the US, Peace Circles are used as an alternative to incarceration or traditional perpetrator programs. A comparison study of Circles of Peace and a typical batterer’s Intervention Program (National Science Foundation 2005) showed that the recidivism rate was the same but the satisfaction rates of the victim was much, much higher when Circles of Peace was used.
How it works: the victim and the perpetrator have a pre-Circle meeting with a Circle facilitator to make sure no re-victimising will occur if the Circle went ahead. If there is any sign that the perpetrator is not remorseful or is blaming of the victim for his actions then the case would be referred back to the Courts for them to deal with.
The person who has harmed and the person who is harmed is invited to bring along a support person with them. Also sitting in the Circle is the Circle facilitator and co-facilitator and some trained members of the community. All members agree to the ground rules – then each person is invited to hold the ‘talk piece’ and talk about how the crime has impacted on their lives. The purpose of this sharing is to illustrate how everyone is connected in a community and each person’s actions has an impact on everyone in the community – it is not a private matter between two individuals. The process concludes with the members of the Circle coming up with actions and an action plan about how the offender can repay both the aggrieved and the community. The Circle meets each week for 26-52 weeks. It's highly contentious and very different from anything we have in the UK, as far as I know. It requires a paradign shift in order to appreciate it's benefits, however my meeting with Yael convinced me that in certain low-risk, early cases this appraoch could be far more effective than labelling someone a 'perpetrator' and offering few solutions for change.
Before I explain about Circles of Peace let me tell you about a shift that has been happening for me for sometime now but was consolidated during my meeting with Yael. Having been a victim of abuse myself, I spent many years identifying with the ‘victim’ position and building up my certainty that I was not to blame for the abuse and that there was nothing ‘wrong’ with me, it was my ex-partners problem. This was a good position to have for this period as it facilitated my anger and my self-preservation instinct. However, as time went on and the fear faded, I started to look at my own story of ‘victim’ and found power for myself in acknowledging what I brought to that a abusive dynamic. Why did I find myself in this relationship? How could I make sure I didn’t find myself in another abusive one? These were difficult questions to ask myself as it acknowledged that I was somehow drawn to this drama for my own needs and by externalising the problem to my partner I would never fully heal from the experience.
A place I have come to then, after a long journey, is that it is possible to divorce the human being from their abusive behaviour and to treat them in a non-blaming, compassionate manner. Some people are genuinely sorry for their behaviour and want to change and punishing them isn’t very effective. Abuse is not necessarily a symptom of the desire for power and control, its learned behaviour and some people know no different. Of course, we all have a choice about how we treat people but we don’t have a choice about how we are brought up. Also people who are abused can also abuse and vice versa. Its can be a messier affair than the criminal justice system would like to admit. To always require a win/lose situation in which one person is totally innocent and one person is totally guilty and therefore punishable, as the CJS requires, is in some instances, too limiting.
So leaving aside the high risk and those relationships in which there is clearly a bullying person involved who feels no remorse….lets talk about Circles of Peace.
Circles of Peace is the first-of-its-kind domestic violence treatment program that uses a restorative justice approach to reduce violent behaviour in families. Restorative Justice emphasises repairing the damage that’s been caused by the criminal behaviour. It is accomplished through co-operative processes that incorporate all the effected parties, including perpetrators and victims who choose to participate, extended family members and crucially, members of the community.
In certain States in the US, Peace Circles are used as an alternative to incarceration or traditional perpetrator programs. A comparison study of Circles of Peace and a typical batterer’s Intervention Program (National Science Foundation 2005) showed that the recidivism rate was the same but the satisfaction rates of the victim was much, much higher when Circles of Peace was used.
How it works: the victim and the perpetrator have a pre-Circle meeting with a Circle facilitator to make sure no re-victimising will occur if the Circle went ahead. If there is any sign that the perpetrator is not remorseful or is blaming of the victim for his actions then the case would be referred back to the Courts for them to deal with.
The person who has harmed and the person who is harmed is invited to bring along a support person with them. Also sitting in the Circle is the Circle facilitator and co-facilitator and some trained members of the community. All members agree to the ground rules – then each person is invited to hold the ‘talk piece’ and talk about how the crime has impacted on their lives. The purpose of this sharing is to illustrate how everyone is connected in a community and each person’s actions has an impact on everyone in the community – it is not a private matter between two individuals. The process concludes with the members of the Circle coming up with actions and an action plan about how the offender can repay both the aggrieved and the community. The Circle meets each week for 26-52 weeks. It's highly contentious and very different from anything we have in the UK, as far as I know. It requires a paradign shift in order to appreciate it's benefits, however my meeting with Yael convinced me that in certain low-risk, early cases this appraoch could be far more effective than labelling someone a 'perpetrator' and offering few solutions for change.
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