Jamaicans Urged to Support Consultations on Restorative Justice

Director of the Justice Training Institute (JTI), Audrey Sewell, is appealing to all Jamaicans to support the consultation series on the draft policy for Restorative Justice.
“We want every Jamaican to be involved, because restorative justice will impact the entire Jamaica and so we would want to hear from every Jamaican what they have to say and what they believe restorative justice should mean for all of us here in Jamaica,” she said, during an interview with JIS News.
“We have tried to send invitations to as many stakeholders as possible. We want persons from the Judiciary, Private Bar, school community, Lay Magistrates Association, community-based organizations, faith-based organizations and we want every Justice of the Peace, because they will be integral to the process,” the Director added, while urging persons without invitations not to feel left out.
The consultation series begin today (August 12), at the Girl Guides headquarters, 2 Waterloo Road in Kingston, beginning at 5:00 pm.
According to Mrs. Sewell, the consultations stem from recommendations made by consultants from Canada, who prepared the draft policy.
“There ought to be a national policy on restorative justice and last year the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), provided funding for us to have two consultants from Canada, Professor Jennifer Llewellyn and Mr. Danny Graham, QC, who drafted a policy on restorative justice for Jamaica. They presented that report in May of this year and made some recommendations in terms of moving forward,” she said.
Mrs. Sewell pointed out that a major recommendation is to consult with the public. “One of the recommendations is to put this draft policy to the people, to consult with them and get their input before a final policy is put together and submitted to Cabinet for review and ratification,” the Director noted.
She said that there would be 22 consultations from August to September.
“We think the number is sufficient, because we have selected the communities that will ensure that we get representation from a wide cross section of people. We will use those discussions as a basis for moving forward in terms of incorporating those comments in the final document,” the Director informed, explaining that over 300 persons would be targeted for each consultation.
The Director said that restorative justice aims to get the offender to express sorrow, admit that he or she has done a wrong and as much as possible, to restore what he or she has taken from the victim.
“It really gets the community very involved in solving problems that do not have to come in the formal court system, because we have a problem with backlog of cases, so if the community can take responsibility and the issues are resolved at that level, then we will be well on our way to addressing some of the problems that are creating harm and disharmony in the communities,” she argued.
The consultations are being funded by the UNDP and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).