Comments by Sherry Swiney - taoss@worldnet.att.net
In the article below, there is a statement that says,
"Victim's advocate Miriam Shehane, who founded
Victims of Crime and Leniency after her daughter was
murdered, said she didn't oppose the concept of restorative justice as
long as it stayed focused on helping victims."
...as long as it stayed focused on helping victims...
That is right. Remember, there is usually a reason (excluding people
who have organic brain damage) for committing a crime. That reason
can be Fear, Hatred, Revenge, Jealousy, Insecurity, or Greed. People
are not born with these things in their hearts; they are taught by life-circumstances
to have these things in them. I consider them victims as well.
On a construction project we have Direct Labor (the
guys with the tools building the thing) and INdirect Labor (the guys behind
the scenes doing all the administrative stuff that no one ever sees) -
both essential to making a project successful.
In crime, we have a Direct Victim (the person upon
whom the crime is committed) and an INdirect Victim (the person committing
the crime) - both essential to making crime possible.
Please keep these ideas in mind while reading the
article linked below. Prison Reform using Restorative Justice methods
works. When prisons are rehabilitating (correcting/healing the INdirect
Victims so that they never return to prison again after their sentence
is finished), there are less Direct Victims in a society.
This is not coddling criminals as the occasional victim's
rights groups may fear. See for yourself.
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