Restorative Practice In Newry
Micheál Carlisle, Social Worker in Community Services, was delighted to hear that his work was used as an example by Ms Cherie Booth QC to illustrate her talk on restorative justice on BBC Radio 4 just before Easter.
Ms Booth is president of Barnardos, one of the key agencies in the Newry Adolescent Partnership though which the Youth Justice Agency delivers its community services in the Newry and Mourne area.
Micheál had been key worker with ‘Andy’ and had designed a programme under the terms of a Community Responsibility Order following Andy’s conviction for attempting to throw home made petrol bombs at police officers.
As part of the Order, Andy met with police, fire service and ambulance crews who presented him with graphic information about the damage petrol bombs can cause. He began to appreciate the risks facing them and wrote a letter of apology to the police. He then went on to join the Fire Service cadets for a six week programme on public safety.
The programme also helped Andy explore the things in his life which made him angry and develop ways of coping with pressures he felt within his family life, where both his parents had problems with substance misuse, and at school, where he was frequently in trouble.
Ms Booth concluded her reference to Andy by saying “Andy is accepting responsibility for his actions – but there’s another way to look at this. The community is accepting its responsibility for Andy as well. All too often society wants to draw a “them and us” line between offenders and victims without recognising that offenders are often victims themselves.”
A post script to the broadcast followed a few days later when the staff received a card from Downing Street with a personal message of thanks from Ms Booth.
