A report on a presentation to elected representatives

By Isabel Jenkins

On March 30th 2004 "The Other View" Magazine was invited to observe a presentation by Greater Shankill Alternatives on Restorative Justice. The presentation, which was delivered by Tom Winstone and Debbie Watters in the Stormont Hotel Belfast, was attended by some twenty community representatives and MLA’s. Two senior officers with the PSNI gave a presentation outlining the police approach to Restorative Justice.
Tom Winstone gave a brief historical background to the Greater Shankill Alternatives initiative. A piece of action research into the underlying reasons behind paramilitary attacks on young people involved in anti-social behaviour was carried out in 1996-1997 by EPIC (Ex Prisoners Interpretative Centre) at the request of the Northern Ireland Association for care and Resettlement of Offenders. The research was undertaken by Tom Winstone, a loyalist ex. prisoner, supported by Karen Lysaght of LINC Resource Centre; and involved intensive interviews with community workers, young people involved in anti-social behaviour, victims of anti-social behaviour, parents, the RUC and other statutory bodies. They also conducted interviews with local paramilitary groups.

The research indicated that there was a feeling within local communities that people were turning to the paramilitaries for action because of the breakdown in communication and trust between the community and the formal justice system. It was indicated too that local people felt that the other statutory bodies such as Social Services and the Probation Board had little or no real understanding of local issues. At the same time the research showed that local people realised that paramilitary beatings, while satisfying a lust for vengeance, were not really an answer to the problem of anti-social behaviour. Winstone and Lysaght believed that there was a willingness on behalf of local communities and the paramilitaries to support viable alternatives to so-called punishment attacks and, in consultation with community representatives, proposed a non-violent alternative that sought to address the needs of victims, the community and the offender. During the course of this research they interviewed Debbie Watters who had been involved as a practitioner for four years with a Restorative Justice project in the United States of America. The alternative proposed by Tom Winstone was similar to the project that Debbie had been working on in the USA. Thus Greater Shankill Alternatives was established and developed as a community restorative justice alternative to paramilitary attacks. The project which was formally established in 1998 has a multi-agency Management Committee that meets monthly to provide management support and method assistance to members of staff and volunteers.

Debbie Watters spoke about the philosophy and practice of restorative justice, explaining that “Restorative Justice is a common sense way of dealing with anti-social behaviour that disrupts the life of the communities in which we live. It is a process that sets out to restore broken relationships between offender, victim and the community”. Debbie went on to point out that “When you do justice in a restorative manner, you focus on the harms and the hurts of the offending behaviour rather than on the rules that have been broken. We are concerned about the needs of both the victim and the offender, involving them both in the justice e process”.

She went on to outline several case studies that showed the positive effects of Alternatives programme in terms of transforming attitudes, reducing offending behaviour and meeting the needs of victims. When a young offender is referred to Alternatives and is willing to put things right with his/her victim and with the local community they are assigned to a mentor and, together a suitable programme is agreed that will help the offender make things as right as possible for his/her victim, with the community and with him/her self. Where the victim is agreeable victim-offender mediation is facilitated and where appropriates some measure of restitution is agreed. The process is to try and bring the victim and offender together and, although some victims feel unable to meet with the offender, the victim-offender mediation process has had positive results for those victims who have participated. 76% of offenders referred to Alternatives between 1998 and 2001 (when the project was first evaluated) participated in victim-offender mediation. During the first four years of its existence Greater Shankill Alternatives received referrals from paramilitary organisations, community organisations, and social services. Significantly 13% of those who participated in the Alternatives programme were self-referrals. Debbie estimated that some 86% of young people referred to Alternatives agreed a Contract within one month of referral. These contracts included voluntary work, victim restitution, alternative schooling, individual and group counselling, drug and alcohol awareness programmes and family support.

Clearly the emphasis was on trying to restore broken relationships, making things as right as possible for the future, reducing re-offending and providing a way back in to the community for the offender. The success of the Greater Shankill Alternatives initiative has resulted in the initiative being replicated in North Belfast, East Belfast and North Down, with the possibility of an initiative being developed in Armagh. A number of other community groups are beginning to build the Alternatives model of restorative justice into their community safety programmes.

The success has also led to a better working relationship with the PSNI and other statutory bodies. It is ironic however that funding for the various Alternatives’ projects have had to be sourced from outside of Northern Ireland. Notwithstanding a positive independent evaluation and growing endorsement from within the statutory sector, local funding agencies are reluctant to fund the Alternatives network. Yet, as Tom and Debbie were quick to point out, “we are here for the long haul”.

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