Persons Trained in Restorative Justice Urged to Become Advocates
By: , March 9, 2024
Photo: Donald De La Haye
Minister of Justice, Hon. Delroy Chuck, addresses Friday’s (March 8) Restorative Practices certificate ceremony held at Campion College in St. Andrew.
Photo: Donald De La Haye
Minister of Justice, Hon. Delroy Chuck (right), presents a certificate of participation to Red Hills Primary School student, Kaylee Adela Marsh (centre), during Friday’s (March 8) Restorative Practices certificate ceremony, held at Campion College in St. Andrew. Sharing in the presentation is educator, Lorraine Bramwell.
Photo: Donald De La Haye
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Justice, Grace-Ann Stewart McFarlane (right), presents certificates of participation to students of Immaculate Conception High School, during Friday’s (March 8) Restorative Practices certificate ceremony, held at Campion College in St. Andrew. The students are (from second right) Zafirah Cochrane and Jodi-Ann Campbell.The Full Story
The more than 8,000 participants across 200 schools who have been trained in restorative justice (RJ) are being encouraged to become advocates for the conflict resolution method in their schools and wider communities.
“I’m going to beg everyone, please get to the next level of restorative justice. You have been sensitised; you know what it is,” urged Justice Minister, Hon. Delroy Chuck.
“We are going to be utilising advocates of restorative justice to go across Jamaica to speak about how we can use RJ to resolve impending disputes, impending squabbles, but most importantly, impending killings, because most persons feel that the only way to resolve a dispute is to get rid of the other side, and it is not the right way,” he noted.
Minister Chuck was addressing a certificate ceremony on Friday (March 8) at Campion College in St. Andrew for participants in Restorative Practices training workshops held from March to December 2023.
The two-day sessions, which were conducted as part of the Ministry’s Restorative Justice (RJ) Programme, focused on equipping staff, students and parents with skills in conflict resolution and how to repair and build trust and respectful relationships.
Minister Chuck, in his address at the ceremony, held under the theme ‘Transformation, Peace and Harmony through Restorative Justice’, noted that RJ has the potential to contribute to crime reduction.
He said Jamaica recorded more than 1,300 murders in 2023, and in approximately 80 per cent of the cases the victim was well known to the offender.
“We have to fight back but we don’t fight back with violence, and we don’t fight back with abuse. We must talk it out, and that is what restorative justice is all about,” he said.
Since 2022, more than 12,000 participants have benefited from training in Restorative Practices.
For more information on restorative justice, persons may contact the Ministry of Justice toll-free at 888-JUSTICE (888-587-8423) or visit their website at www.moj.gov.jm.