PF National Organisations and Restorative Justice

PF Zimbabwe Helping Ex-offenders, Families and Communities Find Healing

Ex-offenders encounter many challenges to living a crime free life once they leave prison. Chief among these are rejection by their families and communities of origin and the fear of revenge on the part of victims or victims' families. As a response to this reality, PF Zimbabwe created the Victim Offender Reconciliation Programme to assist this reintegration process.

Explaining Restorative Justice in Colombia

Dan Van Ness, PFI’s Executive Director of the Centre for Justice and Reconciliation, recently travelled to Colombia to help PF Colombia in its ongoing efforts to promote restorative justice among criminal justice professionals.

Helping Prisoners and Communities Reconcile

In late 2007, PF Papua New Guinea (PFPNG) worked with the government’s Community Justice Liaison Unit (CJLU) to organise and support prisoners from Bomana prison through a reconciliation event in their home village.

PF Philippines Trains Jail Officers in Restorative Justice

In late 2007, the board chairperson of PF Philippines, Dr. Rey Taniajura, conducted a three-day training class for 44 non-commissioned jail officers from across the Philippines.

Advocating for Restorative Justice in Nigeria

Participants in a recent one-day seminar organized by PF Nigeria discussed the chronic prison overcrowding in that country and explored solutions through alternatives to incarceration based on restorative justice.

Restorative Justice Training for Corrections Personnel

Recently, PF Lesotho sponsored a two-week training event on restorative justice for members of the Lesotho Correctional Service (LCS). Thirty-five participants including prison chaplains and correctional rehabilitation officers participated in the event held at the Lesotho Training Centre.

Constructing Restorative Justice in Lithuania

Recently, the Lithuanian Government approved Resolution 806 paving the way for implementing restorative justice in the country.

Reconciling Victims and Offenders in Swaziland

As offenders come to understand the harm they have caused, they feel the need to express their remorse and take responsibility for their behaviour. In response to this need, the PF Swaziland reconciliation team assists prisoners in this journey toward healing. When prisoners ask PFS volunteers to relay their apology to the victim, the reconciliation team steps in to visit with the prisoner and the victim. During meetings with the victims, often attended by the prison chaplain, the team members explain the desire of the offender to apologize and meet with the victim. After several meetings with each party, a meeting inside the prison is facilitated by the members of the reconciliation team. Often these meetings end in an offer of forgiveness from those affected by the offending behaviour.

PF Portugal Highlights Restorative Justice

This year’s Convocation theme of Love and Justice was an appropriate one for PF Portugal to use at its annual nationwide PF Volunteers Meeting. The Portuguese Government recently announced a proposal for an experimental penal mediation programme that would allow for alternative prison sentences in cases of crimes that would have required less than five years in prison.

Dialogue for Peace in Colombia

In January, PF Colombia began a roundtable discussion on creating a peace process using the paradigm of restorative justice. The series of meetings, held in one of the country’s major prisons, brought together members of different groups participating in the ongoing conflict – paramilitary and guerrilla -- as well as researchers in restorative justice from the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, representatives of the Medellín city government and members of PF Colombia.

Promoting Restorative Justice in Pakistan

Recently, PF Pakistan sponsored an introductory seminar on prison ministry and restorative justice for 40 individuals from the NGO Caritas Pakistan. The seminar was a part of a larger PF Pakistan strategy to promote restorative justice in the country.

Police Training in Colombia

In October 2006, PF Colombia Board Chairperson Lácides Hernandez served as an instructor in a training course covering restorative justice theory and practice for Medellín Metropolitan police.

Raising Community Awareness about Restorative Justice

Recently, Uvenama Rova of PF Papua New Guinea gave a presentation on restorative justice to a Women’s Fellowship Workshop of the United Church of Papua New Guinea.

PF Zambia Representatives Receive Restorative Justice Training

In May, Samuel Kawilila and Richard Mbindawina of PF Zambia travelled to the USA to study restorative justice at the Eastern Mennonite University Summer Peacebuilding Institute in Harrisonburg, VA

ADR in Bolivia

Early this year, the Oruro branch of PF Bolivia opened the Charles Colson Conciliation Centre. Having received official recognition from the Ministry of Justice, the centre has five certified conciliators providing alternative dispute resolution services in civil, family, and penal disputes.

Prison as a Place of Restoration

PF New Zealand has developed a programme bringing victims face-to-face with their offenders. Generally taking place in the prison setting, these safely-structured and facilitated meetings provide victims with the opportunity to tell their story and ask questions of their offenders. Offenders chance to learn how their crime truly impacted the victim and to express remorse for their behaviour. The following story illustrates the potential of victim-offender encounters to create a space for healing.

Advancing Restorative Justice in Trinidad and Tobago

On 27 June 2005, PF Trinidad and Tobago held a one day conference titled “Restorative Justice the Model for Social Justice.”

The Ministry of Reconciliation

The Gospels are an amazing story of reconciliation. It is the heart of the Christian message. Yet reconciliation is not the first thing that comes into the minds of innocent victims who suffer a loss or an injustice. People who lose a loved one to a violent crime will often feel bitter, angry and resentful. Seldom would anyone be inclined to think first of forgiveness and being reconciled to the offender in such circumstances. As difficult as the process of reconciliation is, a growing number of PF ministries are responding to the challenge of helping victims and offenders grow beyond the pain and anger and alienation of their experiences. The results are often miraculous.

Promoting Restorative Justice in China

In December 2002, PF Hong Kong partnered with Nanjing University in China to host a series of events related to restorative justice.

Developments from Colombia

In December of 2002, the Colombian National Congress made several changes to article 250 of the Constitution of 1991, which addresses the obligations of the prosecutor in investigation and prosecution of criminal cases.