Saturday, September 27, 2014

Domestic Violence: Telling Amy's Story

IF YOU ARE:
A part of a helping agency
A Minister
Director of an agency
Care about others
Work with people caught up in Domestic Violence
Want to be a part of a continuing effort to DO something about violence………….
PRINT and Post this and invite people to attend a free showing of AMY’S STORY”

 
You Can Help in the Fight to End Domestic Violence!

Please join the Family Service of the Piedmont and the High Point Police Department for a free showing of a critically acclaimed documentary about domestic violence
Telling Amy’s Story
Monday, October 6, 2014, 6—8 p.m.

High Point Theater, 220 East Commerce Street, High Point, NC 27260

Following the film, local professionals will be on hand for a Question and Answer session about domestic violence in our local community.

Please reserve your seat by October 1, 2014. To reserve your seat, please complete the form at: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/telling-amys-story-tickets-12704891673

 
Jim Summey
High Point Community Against Violence
870-1114
 

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Beating victim, perpetrator stand as example of restorative justice

http://www.wwmt.com/news/features/top-stories/stories/Beating-victim-perpetrator-stand-as-example-of-restorative-justice-42150.shtml#.VCL8RhZGUe4

Beating victim, perpetrator stand as example of restorative justice

Updated: Wednesday, September 24, 2014

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (NEWSCHANNEL 3) - In the summer of 2009, Brady Middleton was heading to college on a basketball scholarship when three brothers, two adults, and one minor viciously beat and robbed him.

All 3 suspects were caught. The older brothers are facing several decades in prison still. The youngest, 18-year-old Marcellus Bennett, is out of jail and working with his new friend, Brady Middleton, to change the way our society views justice.

Their story has received a lot of attention. Thanks to that attention, tonight Middleton was able to host a forum on restorative justice in Grand Rapids.

Restorative justice is basically finding a way to pull a silver lining out of the worst situations. Bennett and Middleton believe their story is the perfect example.

Five years ago, Middleton himself wouldn't have believed that was possible.

"I heard a gun cock from my right, and by the time I turned around three individuals were already on top of me," Middleton recalled.

He was beaten, pistol whipped, robbed and walked to a wooded area.

"The man ordered me on my knees, and had the gun to the back of my head," Middleton said. "I asked him, are you gonna kill me? And he said yes."

His assailants took off, but not before costing Middleton his basketball scholarships.

"Severe head contusion, traumatic brain injury, somewhere around 70 stitches above the left eye," he said, listing his injuries.

About a year later, he faced the youngest of 3 brothers who attacked him.

"I first saw Marcel, I believe it was at his sentencing hearing," Middleton said.

He was 13.

"How does a 13 year old get here? And why did they do this to me?" Middleton asked.

He says the answer became clear.

"Which really can be summed up as hurt people hurt people," he said.

Middleton started finding common ground with Marcel, eventually doing something much more important.

"Letting him know that i believed in him," Middleton said.

He says he was honored to play that small role in his friend's transformation.

"Marcellus did all the hard work," Middleton said. "He started excelling at his placement in the juvenile detention center, he actually became a leader for his housing unit."

Now 18 years old, Marcellus is a high school graduate.

Both he and Middleton are advocates for restorative justice.

"With all crimes, victim, perpetrator, and action, that's not the model that needs to be followed, but taking bad situations and getting the best out of them, that's what should be" Middleton said.

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Does ‘restorative justice’ in campus sexual assault cases make sense?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/08/29/does-restorative-justice-in-campus-sexual-assault-cases-make-sense/
 
August 29


In an effort to make it easier for college women to bring charges of sexual assault, the federal government has encouraged the creation of a special breed of disciplinary panels to hear these sensitive cases. The distinguishing factor of these sexual misconduct panels is that victims offer testimony without the accused being present. Unlike criminal courts, where you have the right to face your accuser, these panels hear the details away from the ears of the alleged offender. It is only under these judicial circumstances that victims can share embarrassing details without suffering further humiliation. Without these protections, women will be less likely to report.
At least, that’s the position of victim advocates. The procedures and constitutional safeguards of criminal court, they say, are inherently unsafe for a woman who has been victimized by rape. The adversarial procedures and constitutional protections end up re-traumatizing her. The disciplinary system set up under Title IX is better for the victim because the accused is kept away.
But as more and more of these cases are appealed by respondents who claim their constitutional rights or contractual obligations were violated, more and more colleges are referring these cases to criminal courts. This is a reasonable strategy from the point of view of institutional liability, but not a good idea if it keeps victims from reporting disturbing events in the dorms. But does the in-house system really improve dorm life?
It makes sense that victim advocates put personal safety above all other considerations. They meet her when she is most distraught. But that particular emotional reality, while very big, is not necessarily permanent. In cases of acquaintance rape, the urge to be protected from the offender often competes with the equally strong urge to be heard.
Researchers in the United Kingdom found that sexual assault victims who participated in a restorative justice conference experienced a “really big turning point.” For one victim, being able to speak directly to the offender was not traumatic but deeply healing. “I just wanted him to hear me,” she said.
In Arizona, RESTORE (Responsibility and Equity for Sexual Transgressions Offering a Restorative Experience) uses restorative justice to adjudicate cases of acquaintance rape. Parties in these cases work out a plan for “accountability, healing and public safety.” Safety in this model of justice is not protection from a certain offender but collaboration with others to create a healthier atmosphere.
Rather than seek protection from the offender, which tends to increase his power and her powerlessness, restorative justice allows victims to be more than just afraid. Victims can use their knowledge to create the conditions for better sexual encounters. For students living in co-ed dormitories, this model improves residential life in general. In the current disciplinary system, either the expelled student or the disappointed accuser disappears. Any opportunity for education is lost.
Unfortunately, victim advocates have as many reservations about restorative justice as they do about criminal justice. Restorative justice, they claim, doesn’t recognize the power differential between a victim and her abuser. There is no way that she can approach him and not be re-traumatized.  To confront one’s assailant is to “relieve their assault” as one commentator on an earlier op/ed put it. “How can anyone think that is a good idea?”
If one accepts the assumption that contact equals trauma, then restorative justice is not a good idea. This is position adopted by Title IX guidelines, which prohibit anything resembling mediation. But if we expand our idea of what a healthy confrontation in a well-facilitated and supportive environment might look like, then contact with the offender might actually transform both parties for the better.
Besides, the appellate process undermines the promise that victims can find safety without confronting the accused. She may not have to testify before him in front of a disciplinary panel, but he will be present should she have to testify in a federal appeals court.
Rather than encouraging a judicial system that creates heightened expectations for personal safety, we would do better to provide opportunities for honest conversations that lead to heightened expectations for public safety. The current in-house system, with its fear of confrontation, doesn’t do that. But restorative justice does. The trauma of rape need not define the emotional contours of the recovery.  Using restorative justice allows victims to be more than their fear. And should an aggrieved party decide to sue after a restorative justice hearing, she’ll be ready to meet him in court.