Power of One: Restorative justice couples victims with offenders

Another victim found the restorative justice sessions so transformative that he has helped raise funds for the group by selling his artwork.

Joseph Anthony said, however, that the process requires real effort for it to work.

“They give me some good pointers but the real work is within us and we have to do it ourselves,” said Anthony.

The experience has allowed him to transform his rage about past events into something more productive.

“Anger sometimes turns into an energy, a great energy and if you put it in the right place, you can do great things with it,” he said.

Comments posted on the group’s website display the depth of emotional trauma that both sides have to deal with. 

Said one victim about the process: “The will to go all the way gives you the opportunity to witness something extraordinary: an unexpected openness, empathy for human suffering, even when it’s felt by the offender. From that point on, the offender is no longer a beast, a monster, a demon; the offender becomes human.”

One armed robber offered this description of his experience: 

“Often I justified stealing to myself. Doesn’t matter; they’ve got cash. That little thing she’s got, it’s not much. But the massive emotional attachment to that small object, wow! She described how she felt so well. She felt the danger, a small chill. You know, that taught me a lot.”

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