RESTORATIVE PRACTICES: Scottish Quaker Community Justice Network
Advocating for progress towards life affirming and reconciling responses to crime.
This blog is timely for us - an open Scottish Quaker Community Justice Network has recently been formed; it will work closely with an officially appointed Quaker working group to advocate for progress towards life affirming and reconciling responses to crime. Together the groups will provide a Scottish Quaker voice and possibility for action, and help Quakers to explore, understand and engage with community justice, including restorative justice.
Quakers generally sense that overuse of prisons is a destructive and expensive failure as a response to crime. We recognise that the prison system is both a cause and a result of violence and social injustice. We need too to foster awareness within ourselves and others of the roots of crime and violence in society, to ensure that our lives do not unintentionally reinforce these harms. One such way of promoting non-violence is the Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP), started by Quakers over 40 years ago, which runs workshops to enable participants both in prisons and in the community to develop their self-esteem, communication and conflict resolution skills.
Over the last 40 years Quakers in Britain have been promoting peaceful approaches such as restorative approaches through several ad hoc initiatives including those led by a Quaker probation officer, Marian Liebmann[1], who is an internationally-renowned author, trainer, and practitioner of restorative justice and by Tim Newell a retired prison governor [2] .
Restorative Justice and Prison Chaplaincy
Personal story from a Quaker involved in retroactive practices:
“The Quaker universal belief in peace, truth and reconciliation inevitably leads me to a deep appreciation and support for Restorative Practice in the justice system. I have recently successfully completed the Restorative Justice course run by Sacro and the Mediation Centre, a challenging and experiential opportunity to explore and develop individual capacity to remain objectively available to both sides of the experience of crime. I found the practice challenging, but was convinced that this is a productive and creative way to promote empathic understanding between two parties. We all get things wrong at times and we all need to feel the strength of reflection in order for change to happen. This experience has allowed me to revisit my own internal struggles between love and anger. Refining the practice in my own life will benefit those I work with inside the prison walls as well as the community in which I live.”
We are committed to Quaker witness to peace and equality and recognise the express need to speak truth to power to reduce ‘social harm’ and bring peace to our communities. We hope that we can contribute to an ongoing partnership with Prisoners Week Trust and other interfaith initiatives, to discover, promote and engage with more restorative practices in prisons. If you would like to find out more please contact Elizabeth Allen, Clerk, General Meeting for Scotland scotfriendsclerk@gmail.com
https://www.quakerscotland.org
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[1] Liebmann M (2007) Restorative Justice: how it works. London: Jessica Kingsley
[2] Newell T and Edgar K (2006) Restorative Justice in Prisons: A Guide to Making It Happen. Winchester: Waterside Press.