Restorative Justice Critical To Safeguarding Jamaica’s Social Capital

Restorative Justice Coordinator, Andriene Lindsay, has underscored that restorative justice is critical to safeguarding Jamaica’s social capital.

Social capital usually refers to the networks of relationships among people who live and work in a society, enabling it to function effectively.

Building and maintaining healthy networks, even at the community level, have far reaching implications on collaborative efforts which impact productivity within society.

Alternative dispute resolution methods, like restorative justice, help to identify sound solutions to one of the naturally occurring threats to social capital – conflict.

Ms. Lindsay told JIS News that restorative justice can teach persons a different way of thinking about their issues.

“We want to say ‘look, you don’t have to be using a knife in response… you don’t have to kill somebody. Instead, talk it out, sit down reason it out’. See what’s the cause of the conflict and establish how this moves forward, because we’re about building social capital. This use of restorative justice is part of that, not just about the economy, but about, as well, the social capital of the country.” she said.

Ms. Lindsay said the establishment of restorative justice centres islandwide really supports that effort.

“We want to ensure communities learn different ways of addressing their problems. We are well aware that it take time to do that, because at the end of the day, when you learn a certain behavior, to unlearn that, and really learn new behaviours, takes time and effort,” she explained.

Ms. Lindsay pointed out that restorative justice practitioners are trained, ready and willing to facilitate residents of the communities across Jamaica to resolve conflicts in a more calm and peaceful way that promotes healing.

With the recent opening a restorative justice Centre in Pembroke Hall, St. Andrew, Ms. Lindsay is optimistic about the prospects of this intervention helping more Jamaicans.

“I feel so excited about another centre being opened, because it just means more conflicts being resolved in Jamaica,” she pointed out.

Ms. Lindsay indicated that there are currently eight standalone restorative justice centres and 19 in total across Jamaica.

“Ideally, I’d like to see one in every single location… every community. We would also like to see more Jamaicans being proactive in their approach to addressing conflict through methods like this, so everyone can learn to look at conflict in a different [manner],” she added.