Why Restorative Justice?

Restorative justice.

I’d never heard those words before and had no idea what it meant.

It took about a year and a half for my rapist to be sentenced and up until then, the only input I had in the judicial process was to write my victim impact statement and read it out in front of a courtroom. I watched helplessly as the judge read out a string of charges to him. He stood up and muttered “guilty,” after each one. Then I heard the jingling of keys and he was cuffed and taken away. He was sentenced to thirteen years of adult imprisonment.

I numbly walked out of that courtroom as people patted my shoulder and said that I must feel relieved that it was now all over.

Except that I wasn’t.

Relief was not what I felt at all. I was awash with confusion and incredulousness as the last year and half had felt so surreal. I couldn’t understand how someone could go to the lengths he had, to inflict such a heinous crime on someone he didn’t know. So, I sat with it for a bit, but I couldn’t rationalize his actions at all.

I decided I needed answers. So, about two weeks after he was sentenced, I figured I needed more.

I needed to see him.

When I made the decision to visit him in prison, I didn’t know that it would take six months of lobbying the prisons themselves (yes there were a few – he was moved around a bit). Finally, I was on the phone for the umpteenth time with a general manager who said words I’ll never forget:

“Oh, you want a visit for the purposes of restorative justice.” That was the first time I heard it and I replied dismissively, “No, I just want to have an open and candid discussion about what happened.” The general manager warmly went on to explain to me what the premise of restorative justice meant.

See, there are generally two types of restorative justice: the first kind is direct – which is what I was trying to achieve- where the victim speaks with the offender who perpetrated the crime against them. Typically, in these situations, there would be a facilitator and support people for both the offender and the victim, usually in the form of a psychologist or other nominated party. The second is vicarious – which is where you have victims of crime that talk about the effects of crime in front of offenders that are unrelated to their particular crime. In my situation, I was receiving neither of these options, rather I was pursuing a conversation with my rapist that I would facilitate myself.

Eventually, I was permitted to see him. When that day arrived, I had a friend drive me into the correctional center. I had never been to a prison before and as I looked out of the car window, watching trees and road lines whizzing by, I felt sick to my stomach. What was I doing? Who does this? Am I going crazy? I leaned forward, sucking in gulps of air to ease the anxiety roiling through my body. My friend looking on concerned and reassuring me that the car could be turned around at any moment. At this point though, I was determined to press on. I was going to do this. Little did I know that the conversation we had that day would then be what catapulted me on to create my own restorative justice program; BRAVE: Building Restoration And Victim Empathy.

After our conversation, I started looking into restorative justice avenues in earnest. Despite my best efforts, I found that there were no restorative justice avenues available to me. Other than the conversation I had instigated and facilitated with my own rapist, I would have no further opportunity to engage in direct restorative justice and be supported in that process. This seemed absolutely ridiculous considering that restorative justice is not a new concept and is used widely in many countries including America, Canada, the UK and even New Zealand. The idea that there was nothing available to victims in Queensland, Australia seemed like a major oversight, that needed to be put right. So I set about, doing my research and eventually created a restorative justice program that I pitched to Queensland Corrective Services. After three years of back and forth, they agreed to put the program to two trials in 2024.

My vision was to create a program that allowed offenders to face the ramifications of their crimes as well as empower victims of crime to come forward and have their voices be heard in a safe and supportive environment. I wanted the coming together of offenders and victims of crime to be the catalyst for positive change. I wanted everyone to walk away proud of engaging with each other and reflecting on their respective journeys. I wanted everyone to feel a sense of inspiration and most of all, I wanted everyone to feel BRAVE.