Justice Ministry and Churches Sign Restorative Justice Partnership Agreement

Jamaica’s faith-based community is the latest group that will benefit from a restorative justice programme initiated by the Ministry of Justice, following the signing of a partnership between the parties on Tuesday (September 6).

The programme will allow church leaders and members islandwide to participate in training sessions aimed at promoting restorative justice practices.

Restorative justice is a process whereby all parties with a stake in a particular offence come together to collectively resolve how to deal with the aftermath of the offence. It uses forgiveness in restoring peace and de-escalating conflicts.

“This programme will really be transformative. This is an historic beginning to what I hope will develop into a major social integration of the State working with the churches,” stated Portfolio Minister, Hon. Delroy Chuck.

He was addressing the signing ceremony at the Ministry’s office in Kingston.

Between 2020 and 2021, the average success rate of restorative justice interventions was 93 per cent.

The Minister noted that the majority of these cases have been referred by the courts, which has assisted in reducing backlogs.

“We do not [however] have enough cases from the police, the schools, the community, or the churches,” he shared, indicating the rationale behind the partnership forged with the church.

Mr. Chuck said the Ministry tried to contact all churches in Jamaica and where this was not achieved, there are currently 20 restorative justice centres across the island with a restorative justice officer and a liaison officer who are trained and able to impart the programme.

The two-day training will be executed face-to-face. The selected days do not have to be consecutive and will each last for six hours.

The Ministry will provide a trainer, training material, information packages and equipment, as well as certification for persons successfully completing the programme.

Permanent Secretary in the Justice Ministry, Grace Ann Stewart McFarlane, pointed out: “This will be beneficial to church leaders, as they will be trained to deal with the various disputes and disagreements arising in their congregations and the communities that they serve.

“We want to empower [them] and their congregants to address potentially deadly situations to save lives and save individuals from making deadly mistakes,” she added.

For his part, Chairman, Jamaica Umbrella Groups of Churches and Roman Catholic Archbishop of Kingston, His Grace the Most Rev. Kenneth Richards, remarked that the partnership presents an opportunity “to express our innate sense of fraternity to be good Samaritans, who bear the pain of other people’s troubles”.

He said that with restorative justice, “we can identify the pain and the sense of inadequacy in resolving conflict; we will also rediscover all the goodness that God has planted in human hearts for working through difficulties that seem to be the excuse for harming each other”.

Other church leaders who delivered remarks at the signing ceremony include President, Jamaica Union of Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, Dr. Everett Brown; Director, Jamaica School of Preaching and Biblical Studies Church of Christ in Jamaica, Reverend Gladwyn Kiddoe; and Senior Pastor, Upper Room Community Church, Rev. Ian Muirhead.

Several other church leaders and representatives were also in attendance.

In the meantime, Acting National Restorative Justice Coordinator, Saccsha Ebanks, said churches are being asked to indicate their request for training through the Ministry’s office and discuss with the centre nearest to them, a suitable date on which the training can be executed. An allowance of two weeks lead time to prepare, is also requested by the Ministry.

“We also ask that you identify 20 trainees from among your leaders and your congregants who you believe would participate and benefit from this training. We further ask that you identify a training venue and provide refreshment for the training,” Miss Ebanks said.

The Ministry of Justice has trained more than 3,000 members of critical stakeholder groups in restorative justice approaches, over 10 years.

Earlier this year, a memorandum of understanding was signed with the Ministry of Education and Youth to train teachers, guidance counsellors and deans of discipline in the practice of restorative justice.