This is something victims’ groups have stressed for decades. The
justice system fails to give victims and their families a voice, because
the system is entirely focused on the offender.
And this is
something Suman and Manjit Virk know intimately. The parents of Reena
Virk, who was murdered by Kelly Ellard and Warren Glowatski in 1997,
spent more than a decade following the trials of Ellard. And it was
Ellard, rather than the Virks, who was the focus of the justice system’s
attention.
But that’s only half of the story. The other half
involves Glowatski, who was convicted in 1999 and last month received
full parole. Yet in contrast to other cases involving high-profile
murderers, there were no angry protests, no photographs of anguished
parents condemning the system for releasing their daughter’s killer.
There
are many reasons for this, not the least of which is the strength of
the Virks. But there is more: Before Glowatski’s receiving parole, and
at his request, the Fraser Region Community Justice Initiatives
Association arranged a meeting between Glowatski and the Virks.
In Heartspeak Productions’ The Reena Virk Story, Manjit recalls that
this was “the hardest thing” for them, but that they went ahead with the
meeting. During the meeting they were able to communicate to Glowatski
what he did to them, but also to experience Glowatski’s remorse and to
accept his apology. Largely as a result of this meeting, they forgave
him
… it’s curious that RJ hasn’t gone mainstream, since it aims to do
exactly what politicians and others claim they want from the justice
system. Rarely a day goes by that we don’t hear politicians stressing
the importance of meeting victims’ needs or of ensuring offenders take
responsibility, yet the system, focused as it is on punishment, has
never been very good at doing either. Restorative justice, on the other
hand, aims to make this rhetoric a reality.
Not surprisingly, these levels of
satisfaction are far higher than those of people who experience only the
conventional justice system. But the really dramatic results come from
the research of Caroline Angel, a nurse-criminologist at the University
of Pennsylvania.
Angel discovered that victims who participated in
face-to-face conferencing experienced significantly lower levels of
post traumatic stress (PTS) symptoms such as fear, anger, anxiety,
irritability and obsession with the crime than controls did. And women
were particularly likely to benefit from lower levels of PTS symptoms.
This reduction in PTS symptoms is particularly important,
given that, if untreated, such symptoms can lead to both psychological
and physical problems.
Read the full article.
Your donation helps Prison Fellowship International repair the harm caused by crime by emphasizing accountability, forgiveness, and making amends for prisoners and those affected by their actions. When victims, offenders, and community members meet to decide how to do that, the results are transformational.
Donate Now