RJU Surpasses Sensitisation Target

The Restorative Justice Unit (RJU) of the Ministry of Justice sensitised more Jamaicans on RJ practices than projected in 2020.

Restorative justice, which is a form of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) method, utilises conferences to bring the offender, victim and affected community members together to facilitate healing.

Restorative Justice Coordinator, Andriene Lindsay, told JIS News that despite the restrictions implemented as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Unit has done “exceptionally well”.

“We had a target last year to complete 1,010 sensitisation sessions across Jamaica. We actually completed 1,111, so we were 101 over our targets. Regarding beneficiaries, we have an annual target of sensitising 11,110 beneficiaries, but actually we sensitised 16,768. The sensitisations are generally from one and a half to two hours and entails informing the beneficiaries as to what restorative justice is, how the process works and how referrals can be made to the Restorative Justice Centre,” Ms. Lindsay noted.

She pointed out that the mix of online and face-to-face modalities has also helped to strengthen how sensitisation is delivered.

“The landscape has really changed over the past 14 months across the world and here in Jamaica. RJ is the type of intervention that usually we like to focus on, the face-to-face and in person meetings, because we know that RJ is more effective when it’s in person. We have moved to the online modality and ensured that the protocols we put in place, ensure the safety of staff,” Ms. Lindsay explained.

The suspension of the talking piece, social distancing, sustained office sanitisation of highly touched areas by attendants throughout the day, especially after conferences, as well as the provision of masks to clients, have all formed part of the RJU’s safety efforts.

Ms. Lindsay said public education and sensitisation efforts for the last fiscal year still involved speaking to Jamaicans islandwide, ranging from professionals to community leaders to community members and residents.

“[We aim] to put the word out there about the service, and before COVID, all our sensitisations were done in person. But our online presence and delivering those sensitisations in a very organised way online has really ensured that we’ve given the best service to the most amount of people when we can,” she said.

Meanwhile, the number of RJ conferences executed last year also increased. The conferences are structured meetings between offenders, victims and both parties’ families and friends, in which they deal with the consequences of the crime or wrongdoing and decide how best to repair the harm.

“To give you an idea of our conferences as well, our target for 2020 was 2,250 and we actually achieved 2,282, which is 30 over what we had projected before COVID. So, I really feel confident in saying, if COVID was not in the equation, the RJU would have really surpassed these numbers a great deal,” Ms. Lindsay said.

“But it’s good to see that even in the face of COVID, the Jamaican public, the Courts, the Police, the Justices of the Peace and the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) are really still reaching out to RJ and ensuring that the residents, the community members of this country are getting the service they deserve,” she added.

For more on the activities of the Restorative Justice Unit, persons can visit the Justice Ministry’s website at moj.gov.jm.