Leading from the front issuu

chapter thirteen
restorative justice
— for an unjust
justice system
”A broken system by its very
nature cannot heal”.
Support to the principles of Restorative Justice has
been a key mover and inspiration to Pat’s actions
to improve the treatment of criminals and to assist
them to reintegrate into society as productive and
contributing citizens. Restorative Justice principles have
been central to the operation of the Pilot City Trust and
Pat’s work within it.
Pat believes you can’t keep punishing the problem
and any changes to the Justice system in managing
Māori offenders need to be Treaty based to work, or “it
will just be more do-gooders tinkering at the edges”. His
view is that structural damage has been caused to society
by the Treaty of Waitangi not being honoured, that
the nation needs to be restored, that it needs Restorative
Justice, that it needs to be healed.
“Salaries are pouring in to Police and Corrections
every day but sadly not for someone or something like
the Pilot City Trust, which focuses on what is generally
agreed to be the most important aspect of crime prevention
— intervention”, he says.
To quote the Centre for Justice and Reconciliation, Restorative
Justice views crime as more than breaking the
law — it also causes harm to people, relationships, and
the community. So a just response must address those
harms as well as the wrongdoing. If the parties are willing,
the Restorative Justice approach believes the best
way to do this is to help those involved meet to discuss
those harms and how to bring about amicable resolution.
Other approaches are available if they are unable
or unwilling to meet. Sometimes those meetings lead to
transformational changes in the lives of the perpetrators
and lasting friendships with victims.
The three major concepts are : (1) Repair: crime causes
harm and Justice requires repairing that harm; (2)
Encounter: the best way to determine how to do that is
to have the parties decide together; and (3) Transformation:
this can cause fundamental changes in people, relationships
and communities.
So Restorative Justice is a different way of viewing
crime and an innovative model that attempts to eliminate
violence and crime from communities. It is in the
intention to “repair” and “to heal” that lies the difference
with Aotearoa’s current adversarial, retributive Justice
system.
New Zealand’s justice system is constantly labelled
Opposite: Photo by Lee Pritchard, the setting sun on Ahuriri.
Restorative Justice – for an unjust justice system 159