A program that helps keep young people out of jail, while allowing victims of crime to play a significant role in the rehabilitation of offenders continues to enjoy great success across the South Okanagan.

With Restorative Justice Week being celebrated next week across Canada, the South Okanagan-Similkameen Restorative Justice program is celebrating more than 10 years of success since it was formed in Penticton in 2006, said Mark Provencal, community policing co-ordinator.

For the uninitiated, restorative justice programs have been set up in thousands of jurisdictions across Canada over the past 20 years.

Restorative justice involves having perpetrators of criminal activity meet directly with victims of crime with members of the RCMP and local volunteers who are recruited in various jurisdictions.

While the program is geared towards keeping young people out of jail and on the road to rehabilitation, the program is offered to all age groups.

The program has been offered in Osoyoos and Oliver for almost a decade now as they were added about a year after the regional restorative justice program was started in Penticton.

The program has extended to Keremeos and Princeton over the past several years.

The accused must admit to his or her crimes to be accepted into the program and only those offenders who are deemed by police and community support agencies to be good candidates for rehabilitation are recommended to participate in the restorative justice initiative, said Provencal.

“Only those who accept full responsibility for their actions are invited to participate in restorative justice,” said Provencal. “They must actively share a desire to make things right with those they have directly affected.”

By allowing victims of crime to meet perpetrators face-to-face, it allows them to verbalize how much these crimes have negatively affected them, which is designed to show the accused how much hardship they have caused through their criminal behaviour.

“It’s designed to show those who have engaged in criminal acts that victims aren’t faceless and there are consequences to their actions,” he said.

At the end of a conference between the victim and accused, the victim is allowed to detail a list of things he or she would like the perpetrator to do to avoid a criminal conviction and make them feel better.

Reparations can range from demanding a letter of apology, to taking direct action to right the wrong that has been committed such as repairing the damage if there was a break and enter to performing community volunteer hours, he said.

The result is victims are appeased and offenders, the vast majority who are young men under age 30, can avoid a criminal conviction and possibility of having to spend time in jail, he said.

“The idea is to find a balance between paying some consequences for your actions without unnecessarily harsh penalties,” said Provencal. “Those who support this program don’t believe putting young people in jail for making a silly or dumb mistake is necessarily the best way to go.”

The RCMP in various communities have played a significantly positive role in making the restorative justice program successful over the past decade, he said.

“There are various players, but at the top are the RCMP officers who make the recommendations of which offenders would be ideal candidates for the program,” he said.

When conferences are held between offenders and victims, all sides are allowed and encouraged to bring supporters.

Most often, the parents of young offenders attend and in many instances pastors or social workers also take part, he said.

Victims are also encouraged to bring supportive family members or friends, he said.

Both Osoyoos and Oliver have two volunteers who work with the restorative justice program in their respective communities.

Because there are usually less than 10 cases in both communities over the course of a year, there isn’t any active search for new volunteers, but many people still show interest in getting involved, he said.

The success rate for rehabilitating offenders who go through the restorative justice program is exceptionally strong, he said.

“Our success rate is very high,” he said. “The majority of offenders don’t reoffend and stay out of trouble.”

To discuss the program and its success, Provencal will be making a presentation on Tuesday, Nov. 21 at 7 p.m. in Room 1 at the Sonora Community Centre.

Provencal believes the future for the restorative justice program in this region is very bright.

“We’ve had great success over the past 10 years so I’m very excited about the program moving forward,in the coming years,” he said.

KEITH LACEY

Osoyoos Times