Minister Calls on Church to Play Greater Role in Restorative Justice Programme

The church is being encouraged to become proactive in getting more Jamaicans to use restorative justice (RJ) to resolve conflicts and maintain peace within their communities.

Making the call, Portfolio Minister, Hon. Delroy Chuck, said despite the proven effectiveness of the alternative dispute resolution strategy, not enough cases are being referred to Restorative Justice Centres, 20 of which are located islandwide.

He was speaking at the National Service of Thanksgiving to kick-start the commemoration of Restorative Justice Week, held at the Salem Baptist Church, St. Ann, on Sunday (February 5).

The week is being observed from February 5 to 11 under the theme ‘Stories of Restoration… Everyone Has a Say, the RJ Way’.

“We have hundreds of facilitators; we have millions of dollars in the Ministry of Justice waiting to pay these facilitators, but not enough cases are being referred to them. That is why the Ministry of Justice is going into the churches, into the schools, and into the communities to tell people about restorative justice,” the Minister said.

Mr. Chuck further noted that the Ministry aims to train church members across Jamaica in the practice of restorative justice, as a pre-emptive move to prevent disputes among families from escalating.

“In every church, we want to put on a programme where, on a regular basis, we try to sensitise approximately 25 persons over a two-day period in restorative justice practices. We want to do this in all the churches so that the congregants, not that they necessarily want it but they may know of persons who need it and, therefore, can refer those persons to the RJ centres or to a facilitator,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Chuck argued that restorative justice can be the “healing” tool to save Jamaica from the escalating crime rate, as well as wrongdoings of all kinds, and as such, is urging more Jamaicans to embrace the programme.

“We want more of these conflicts to be resolved and we know they can be resolved with restorative justice. We feel that if we can take restorative justice to every nook and cranny, to every corner and crevice of Jamaica and really urge people to use it to resolve their disputes, Jamaica could heal,” the Minister added.

Restorative justice is a process whereby all the parties with a stake in an offence come together to collectively resolve the conflict and to reintegrate the offender into the community.