Restorative justice an expansive concept

It’s a quaint notion: If we listen to each other and work hard at getting along, we can be one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all — including victims of crime and the criminals who victimize them.

It may be quaint, but the notion drives a group of community activists who plan to hit town to train our citizenry in gathering stories on the state prison and parole system. They hope the stories, to be recorded on small, hand-held video cameras that they will distribute, can build support for restorative justice.

“We’re looking at the issue of second-chances for those incarcerated and re-evaluating Virginia’s no-parole system,” said Nick Szuberla, founder of the activist organization Thousand Kites. The group uses new-school media such as blogs, Facebook and Twitter alongside old-school media such as radio, television and newspapers to try to change minds and policies.

“One part of restorative justice looks at the notion of healing. We want all parties in our community to heal after a crime is committed. It’s not just about those incarcerated but about the victims and society,” Mr. Szuberla said. “It’s important to realize that, when someone goes into prison, they’re going to come out at some time. When people leave prison it’s important that they have some financial support and community support so that they succeed and don’t return.”

Restorative justice is an expansive concept. It’s also one in practice right now.

Charlottesville Restorative Justice works in cooperation with the courts, victims and offenders to open dialogue, resolve issues and to help provide monetary and emotional restitution.

“The idea of restorative justice is to help make the victim whole, to satisfy the needs of the community for restitution, service or punishment and the needs of the offender to understand why the crime happened, to accept responsibility and to change,” said David Saunier, coordinator at Charlottesville Restorative Justice.

“Our organization tends to focus on the victims and making sure they are heard and helping the offender accept responsibility,” Mr. Saunier said. “The Kites folks tend to focus more on the offender side of the issue. That’s good because the concept of restorative justice is inclusive.”

The Kites are offering a Monday training session — and a camera — for those who want to record stories. A Tuesday informational meeting will clue folks in on the Kites’ bigger issues. The meetings will be held at 7 p.m. at The Quest Foundation, inside The Quest Book Shop on West Main Street.

Thousand Kites began in 1998 when Mr. Szuberla was host of a rural Appalachian hip-hop program, located near two super maximum-security prisons, Red Onion and Wallens Ridge. He began to receive letters from prisoners, many of whom told of racism and human rights violations. He began broadcasting into the prisons and including prisoners in his radio show.

The idea grew from there.

“It’s a different sort of community organization. It’s based on the belief that stories are very powerful and can be a tool to create change in our communities,” Mr. Szuberla said. “We’re open to the public and the campaign is open to anyone who’s interested, not just people who’ve been in prison or know people in prison.”

The organization is pressing for support in hopes of communicating with Gov. Bob McDonnell’s Government Reform and Restructuring Commission before its Aug. 28 deadline to provide recommendations to the governor on streamlining and improving government functions.

Mr. Szuberla said the goal is to change the prison system to better address the needs of everyone involved, from victims to prisoners to families.

“We need to heal victims and heal prisoners,” he said. “It’s better for our community if we’re not using incarceration as the only solution to crime.”

bmckenzie@dailyprogress.com | 978-7271