Kristian Williams - Our Enemies in Blue - Police and Power in America

46 Lee and Seekings, "Vigilantism and Popular Justice," 102; and Scharf, "Policy Options," 46.Here is a general definition: "Restorative Justice is an approach to dealing with the harms createdby crime which views such problems as a breakdown in relationships and seeks to repairthose relationships .... It seeks ro replace the traditional focus of retributive justice on the punishmentof the offender ... with an approach which seeks to heal the injuries caused by crimeto all the parties involved. " Jim Auld e( ai., "Our Practice: The Blue Book [Designing a Systemof Restorative Community Justice in Northern Ireland]," http://www.restorativejusticeireland.org/ourptactice.html (accessed November 20, 2002), 1.2.47 Lee and Seekings, "Vigilantism and Popular Justice," 100; and Minnaar, '''New' Vigilantism," 11 9.48 Quoted in Lee and Seekings, "Vigilantism and Popular Justice," 103-10 5.49 Scharf, "Policy Options," 49.50 Scharf, "Policy Options," 50.51 See: Lee and Seekings, "Vigilantism and Popular Justice," 110; and Scharf, "Policy Options,"50- 51 . An official with the South African national Civic Organization explained the change inattitude: "We used to handle cases as a movement. If we had a dispute the community wouldhandle that, not go to the police. People were saying we had kangaroo courts. These things havechanged now that we have a government of our own. Now we encourage people to go to thepolice, if someone is stabbed. Before it was not like that. " Quoted in Lee and Seeking', "Vigilantismand Popular Justice," 109.52 The persistent support for extra-legal violence is indicated by a 1999 survey of the Eastern Capeprovince. Five percent of respondents indicted that they had personally taken part in vigilanteaerions, and another 20 percent said that they would be willing to consider it. (Five percent of thepopulation would equal approximately 150,000 people. ) Lee and Seekings, "Vigilantism and PopularJustice," 102- 103. Also: Lee and Seekings, "Vigilantism and Popular Justice," 104 and 109.53 Lee and Seekings, "Vigilantism and Popular Justice," Ill; and Minnaar, "'New' Vigilantism,"119-120.54 Nina, "Popular Justice," 103.55 Dermot Feenan, "Community Justice in Conflict: Paramilitary Punishment in NorthernIreland," in Informal Criminal justice, ed. Dermot Feenan (Aldershot, England: Ashgate/Dartmouth,2002), 42.56 Feenan, "Community Justice," 43 and 50. The People's Courts collapsed for a number of reasons,including a lack of resources, procedural difficulties, security concerns, and the priority ofmilitary aims over crime control. Ronnie Munck, "Repression, Insurgency, and Popular Justice:The Irish Case," Crime and Socifiljustice 21-2 (1984): 88.57 Kieran McEvoy and Harry Mika, "Republican Hegemony or Community Ownership? CommunityRestorative Justice in Northern Ireland," in Informal Criminal justice, ed. Dermot Feenan(Aldershot, England: Ashgate/Dartmouth, 20(2), 62.58 Feenan, "Community Justice," 49-50. A former chief probation omcer explained the problem:"The main reason punishment beatings take place is that you move a civilian police force intobeing the frontline tlghters of terrorism, and if that terrorism is endemic in cenain communitiesas in Northern Ireland, it is obvious that you will lose the confidence of those communities inthe civilian police force." Quoted in Feenan, "Community Justice," 50 .59 Feenan, "Community Justice," 43. It is estimated that between 1973 and 2002, 2,300 peoplein Northern Ireland suffered punish ment shooti ngs-usually in the knees, thighs, elbows, orankles. Additionally, between 1983 and 2002, 1,700 have been beaten with bars, nail-studdedboards, iron bars, or other kinds of clubs. McEvoy and Mika, "Republican Hegemony or CommunityOwnership?" 61.60 Munck, "Repression, Insurgency, and Popular Justice," 89.61 Munck, "Repression, Insurgency, and Popular Justice," 87.62 McEvoy and Mika, "Republican Hegemony or Community Ownership?" 65.63 Quoted in McEvoy and Mika, "Republican Hegemony or Community Ownership?" 63.64 Feenan, "Community Justice," 45.65 Quoted in McEvoy and Mika, "Republican Hegemony or Community Ownership?" 64.66 Auld et ai. , "Our Practice," 8. 1.67 Gerrv Adams expresses the party's enthusiasm: "Sinn Fein is in total agreement with the lIse ofnon-violent mechanisms for making offenders more accountable for their crimes, giving victims aninput and involving communities in the ownership of the justice process. " Quoted in McEvoy andMika, "Republican Hegemony or Community Ownership?" 73.68 McEvoy and Mika, "Republican Hegemony or Community Ownership?" 66.69 The IRA's statement of support announced: "We want people to support the Restorative Justiceapproach by bringing their problems to the dedicated and highlv trained workers operating inthe programmes rather than to the IRA." Quoted in McEvoy and Mika, "Republican Hegemonyor Community Ownership?" 74.299