“Assembled in a crowd, people lose their powers of reasoning and their capacity for moral choice. Their suggestibility is increased to the point where they cease to have any judgment or will of their own. They become very excitable, they lose all sense of individual or collective responsibility, they are subject to sudden accesses of rage, enthusiasm and panic. In a word, man in a crowd behaves as though he had swallowed a large dose of what I have called “herd-poisoning.” Reading is a private, not a collective activity. The writer speaks only to individuals, sitting by themselves in a state of normal sobriety. The orator speaks to masses of individuals, already well primed with herd poison. They are at his mercy and, if he knows his business, he can do what he likes with them.” – Aldous Huxley, Brave New World Revisited, published 1958
The other day I saw a notice advertising a film that was to be shown at the Lillooet library. It was about Restorative Justice and I mistakenly thought it was filmed and produced locally. Having never heard of the concept of Restorative Justice, I was intrigued and decided to attend the screening which was to occur that same evening.
After a nice supper I walked the few blocks over to the library, found a chair and sipped a coffee. The crowd, once assembled was mostly older folks and predominantly female. One lady was introduced as being a local representative of Restorative Justice. There were several other people who were involved locally in the program. The film was made in the USA. And consisted of several stories, cut and layered together. The stories took place in three different locations, those being Arizona, San Diego and Florida.
One story was that of a conservative Caucasian policeman in Arizona who had pulled over a fugitive armed robber. He had been shot and had subsequently shot the criminal. The cop lost an eye and sustained other lifelong physical trauma. The lawman and the criminal narrated their own stories, as both had survived their wounds.
Another story was about a promising young university student in San Diego who worked as a pizza delivery man. He had been shot to death in cold blood by a young black boy as part of a gang initiation. The victim’s father narrated this story.
The third story was that of a young Jewish man in Florida who’d was visiting the apartment of some friends. He had been fatally stabbed after a verbal altercation outside. His mother narrated his story.
From this troika, we were taken through a swamp of deeply powerful, primitive emotions. The graphics were less gory than the abattoir that is today's cable TV prime-time line-up but that being said, the cutting, editing and crafting of the film made expert use of every known technique in order to leverage the viewer’s emotions, to position perspective, to lead into a conclusion and to deposit messages. Such techniques have been used by culture creators since the slaves and citizens of the Greek city states sat in outdoor theatres to watch the plays.
In each case, the victim or their surviving loved one came to confront the criminal in jail, in a group setting and with the help of professional mediators, overcame their natural instincts for retaliation and eventually forgave the wrong-doers. These people then spoke about how, although they still grieved their losses, they grew to embrace and love the people who had caused their grief. They all subsequently became lifelong friends.
The father of the university student, after forgiving the young killer of his son and making friends with him, went on to start an organization to promote, facilitate and encourage this path that he had chosen. He spoke of the spiritual side of things in a coherent, logical well prepared and apologetic discourse.
The Jewish mother, unable at first to confront the murderer of her son, began to meet with other inmates and violent offenders until such time as she was able to go that next step. She eventually became so close to the young killer that many people she knew thought she had simply made a psychological swap.
All of the narrators spoke about the liberation they felt upon forgiving the offenders. Some said that it was this less than altruistic reason that had made them consider RJ in the first place. All of the criminals spoke of having trouble believing that their victim's or their victim's loved ones could not only forgive them but come to actually love them. Finally, we were treated to some fairly recent statistics dealing with the population of the incarcerated.
Any normal person would have a queasy stomach, sore adrenal glands, a swollen amygdala and a runny nose by the time it was over. Indeed, the library lady tossed a box of Kleenex on the floor just after the show. One elderly woman to my right grabbed a few sheets and began to sob.
The library lady asked if anyone had any comments. There were very few forthcoming at first. It was like asking someone who was standing in the smouldering wreckage of a train derailment what they thought about travel in general. Whenever there was an uncomfortable silence, one man always spoke up. He also commented upon anything said by others. He reminded me of Gandalf. No one asked if the film we had just seen was made with actors or with the actual parties portrayed.
I gave a short description of an alternate form of justice that I’d witnessed in Manila. A young man had been caught stealing a tape deck out of a car in a barrio of Makati. He had been apprehended by citizens and the barrio captain had been summoned. The fellow was tied to a chair and placed on the sidewalk with a sign around his neck announcing his offence. The passers by were allowed to stop and speak their mind to him. Besides the shaming involved, the face of the perpetrator became known in that neighbourhood and it seemed unlikely that he would frequent that location in the future. I thought that this non-violent way of dealing with the petty crime of a young offender to be of serious merit. I doubt that I would have had those sentiments if he had just killed someone.
It was many days after the screening before I had digested the emotional omelette of that RJ film. Eventually, I decided to research Restorative Justice and look at it unemotionally. Firstly, I learned that the logo for Restorative Justice Online is the same as the logo for Prison Fellowship International. Namely, an orb with three latitudinal markings crossed by two longitudinal markings with a bent reed in the centre. A look at the New Zealand RJ website gave me a biblical reference of the bent or bruised reed.
It is taken from Isaiah 42:3. KJV: “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will bring justice to the nations. He will not shout or cry out in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smouldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice; he will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth. In his law the islands will put their hope.”
There are several references in the Bible to bruised reeds wherein the Pharaoh in Egypt is likened to such. The admonishment is not to lean on a bruised reed because it will splinter and pierce the hand that leans on it. Most of the references to flame and fire that I could see in the Old Testament were to do with God's retribution, punishment and justice. Since the quote that gave rise to the chosen logo comes from a prophesy from the Old Testament which was intended for the audience of the chosen people; I believe there is room for conjecture as to what exactly it means, just as there is room for conjecture as to what interpretations the founders of Restorative Justice and the Prison Fellowship International have taken up. It is not clear to me who is the servant being described in the quote. Is it a reference to Jacob, to Jesus or any future practising Christian? Confusingly and conveniently, it can be argued to mean each of these.
My investigations showed that a man named, Howard Zehr is usually credited with first bringing the modern RJ philosophy to the wider public audience through his writings. He is a Mennonite and is currently the Distinguished Professor of Restorative Justice at Eastern Mennonite University's Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, and co-director of the Zehr Institute for Restorative Justice. He is also a photographer.
A perusal of the Prison Fellowship International showed me that it was founded by Charles Colson. This man was described as “Nixon's hit-man” and went to jail for obstructing justice in the Watergate trails. He claimed he was inspired by reading C. S. Lewis' book, Mere Christianity, which led him to plead guilty and to turn himself in. Colson only served seven months. He wrote or co-wrote thirty books upon his release from prison and was awarded honorary degrees, medals and even had rights that he had forfeited as a convicted felon reinstated by the Governor of Florida. It appeared to me that he had more accolades showered on him than did C. S. Lewis.
So, a man convicted of obstruction of justice was a leading proponent of Restorative Justice and had come to his calling by reading a book by an Irishman (whom by the age of fifteen was an atheist) that only later and very reluctantly, in his own words, turned to Christianity after many discussions with his friend and colleague, J. R. R. Tolkien. Lewis' book has been praised as the best book on Christianity written in the twentieth century. Another book, number five on the same Christian book list, was written by a Mennonite man named Yoder, whom I learned was disciplined by his church for alleged sexual misconduct.
These are men of note, yet only human as you or I. While it is fascinating to delve back into sixteenth century Switzerland to see the genesis of a movement within Christianity which today exerts its efforts all over the world’ we must not forget that leaders of people are themselves people and as fallible as those whom they lead. Each person has gifts and merits to balance their weaknesses and foibles.
If we refer back to the quote by Aldous Huxley at the top of this essay, we may return our awareness back to the group viewing the film on Restorative Justice with me at the library.
I contend that a group is not the proper setting for the pondering of topics of this scope and depth for the reasons cited by Mr. Huxley. I imagine that in any such group there will be some persons witting and other persons unwitting of the special social dynamics at play among humans in groups. I found it interesting and revealing to notice that in the training courses offered at one university for certification in the field of Restorative Justice, that some of the work of the students must be performed in ‘cohorts’ comprised of groups of students.
Think of a molecule of water and its various and inevitable manifestations as sap in a plant, fluid in an animal, vapour rising to condense into a cloud, drops falling from the sky, rivers above and below the ground, lakes of fresh water, drifts of snow, sheets of ice and the vastness of the salt sea, to name only a few. Each of these states may be likened to participation in a particular group.
The individual molecule of water cannot come to a full understanding of what it is until it has experienced all possible modes of its being and has learned that every mode is subject to overarching laws. An iceberg and a cloud are very different although composed of the same substances. Each molecule of water will experience every different mode eventually and thus know the cycle and the purpose of the cycle while retaining its integrity. A water drop cannot deny the ocean nor can it describe the sea without having soared above it as a cloud.
Humans are like molecules that may be called upon by others to form allegorical rivers, lakes and seas. In doing so, I believe they sell themselves short. Why? Because they are gifted at birth with an awareness of both their individuality and of their universality. They are not so many building blocks, yet they will readily assume suggested modes in order to avoid the terrible responsibility inherent in the gift of being a human. Those who take upon themselves the burden of cognition will be both followed and persecuted, whether or not they expect it.
All this human drama takes place in a system older than the memory of a mountain range and the laws of this system have never varied. Therefore, it may be, that doing unto others as one would have them do unto you is the wisest choice that one has. Many people lack the ability to discern this truth whether or not they are incarcerated. It may also be said that most humans naturally tend to form groups. I believe that the size of a group is key to its health as measured by the quality and integrity of the thoughts of the individuals that make up that group. I further contend that in a natural setting, humans will control the size of their groups to keep them within the parameters of healthy functioning units. This aspect of our nature had as much to do with the spread of our species as did the quest for food.
The Anabaptist, who were the forerunners of the Mennonites, Hutterites and such, began as small group of a few like minded men in Switzerland who broke away from the main body of Protestants after pondering the prevailing doctrines which they disagreed with on some key points. Their next stages of development were those of being persecuted, gathering followers and seeking places in which they could practice their beliefs. As soon as their following was large enough, in my opinion, their dynamics changed and many smaller groups hived off.
Their main premise, as I understand it, was sound, in my opinion. They contended that an infant could not possibly be equipped to choose to live a Christian life but that an adult could make a conscious decision to do so and understand what it meant. Thus, they practised adult baptism. This was contrary to the established norm of baptism at birth and so, the religious authorities, both Catholic and Protestant, dubbed them Anabaptist or those who baptize twice. The fact that this was such a big issue as to lead to horrible persecution tells me that some temporal power struggles were definitely underfoot in the religious world then as now.
It is interesting that many Mennonites keep a massive book called the Martyr's Mirror. The full title of the book is The Bloody Theatre or Martyrs Mirror of the Defenceless Christians who baptized only upon confession of faith, and who suffered and died for the testimony of Jesus, their Saviour, from the time of Christ to the year A. D. 1660.
The word defenceless refers to the Anabaptist belief in non-resistance. The book includes accounts of the martyrdom of the Apostles and the stories of martyrs from previous centuries who had beliefs similar to the Anabaptist. There were some groups that didn't believe in non-resistance and they were hunted down relentlessly just like their peaceful brethren. While it is obvious to me that these people believe in forgiveness, they also appear to believe in not forgetting. I agree with that wholeheartedly on the basis of common sense.
Throughout history since the days of Christ, it appears to be acceptable to be a Christian as long as one counts membership in a large enough denomination and professes to live by that particular group's doctrines and dogma. It is when an individual or a small group decides to practise their own unique style of the faith in such a way that their very lives become an expression of their religion; that the trouble always begins. This perplexed many native North Americans when they discovered that the people who were bringing them the Good News about Jesus, were not able to emulate the object of their worship in their day to day practice.
One fly in the ointment of humanity that I believe has not been factored in to most belief systems are those individuals, who through accident of birth do not possess the ability to feel remorse, guilt, shame or compassion. These are the psychopathic minority and we must add to their numbers, another set of individuals whom science has proven are irresistibly drawn to them like moths to a candle. Taken together, this segment of society have a very bad influence on the natural dynamics of any group, which are governed by natural laws which no human, sick nor sound, may alter.
In old Cherokee culture, the murder of an individual was answered with the killing, by a member of the victim's family, of the murderer or of a member of the murderer’s family. This system was viewed with horror by Christian newcomers to America. It was faulted by the fact, that under such a code, the retaliation killings obviously set up a self-perpetuating feedback loop. Finally, it was caricatured as the feuding between the Hatfields and McCoys.
If we go back to a distant time however, when populations were smaller and food was plentiful, we may be able to perceive that such a justice system may have come about as a natural way to deal with the proliferation of the genes responsible for inexplicably aberrant behaviours. I don't believe there was much killing going on, even when the percentages are adjusted for our population today. I don't know this, I wasn't there. I do know that some people are capable of cruelties that would make any of us hang our heads in shame of our species.
That said, I also know that other than psychopathic individuals and their thralls, the vast majority of humans, while quite capable of taking life to eat or to protect themselves or their loved ones; are a very non-violent lot. I have read that the battlefields of the Civil War proved this conclusively when a census was taken of the rifles of the dead on battlefields and the majority had not been fired. As a result of that data, new ways of training were found and are still being developed today. Ironically, the PTSD experienced by returning troops is further proof of the inherent peacefulness of our species.
While it can be argued that the prisons of the world are overflowing and many inside are innocent of serious crimes; there are some within walls who are incapable of walking peacefully outside. In my opinion, the senseless taking of a life can never be made right. Violent assaults of any kind leave indelible scars on the victim, whether they forgive their assailant or not. Of course, material crimes can be compensated, if the perpetrator has the means, which in most cases they likely don't. Conversely, criminals of means can afford better lawyers to avoid financial compensation.
The saying that to err is human and to forgive is divine, in the context of Restorative Justice, leads me to the conclusion that within an RJ-styled healing circle, (which includes people from the community not directly involved in the crime, the victim and some of their loved ones, the perpetrator and some of their loved ones and a trained facilitator); the criminals get to be human and the victims are called upon to be divine. At this point it is hoped by all that the criminal will also sprout wings.
The other two possible scenarios are: That the victims get to be human, the criminals are called upon to be divine and it is hoped that the victims will also sprout wings. Thirdly, that all parties get to be human and are collectively called upon to be divine.
The common thread through all of this is the call to embrace a Christian worldview. Not a bad thing, but we must not forget that those who call for this are as human as those who are called. I have spoken to several recovered heroin addicts, crack-heads and alcoholics (all of whom were Christians) and learned from them that during every day of their abstinence their addictions were "out in the parking lot doing push-ups.”
They all told me that the only road open to them was one of service to others and that there was no other possibility for their lives. Those bruised reeds form a large army and they perform untold and often unsung good deeds which benefit all of society and the world. They are a powerful, loyal and to some extent an invisible force. They are also by dint of that fact, open to manipulation and may be seen by some as being expendable.
There exists a fraternity called Beta Theta Pi. It was formed in 1869 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. It is the eldest of the Miami Triad who's other parts are Phi Delta Theta and Sigma Chi. It has 219,000 initiated members worldwide. There are 144 active chapters in the USA and Canada. Charles Colson was a Beta Theta Pi man.
One of the eight founding members of Beta Theta Pi was a man called John Holt Duncan. He served as a Confederate Artillery Captain in the 31st Texas Calvary during the Civil War. It is said that at the First Battle of Newtonia in Missouri, he lost a leg from a wound received. He was taken in by the Confederate family of another soldier. When the man of the house got home, Duncan was discovered by the authorities.
The other man was put to death in front of his family for harbouring Duncan and Duncan was spared. He moved to Houston, Texas and eventually became the Chief Justice of Bexar County, Texas. It is said that he spent the rest of his life caring for the family who had helped him and that he died penniless as a result. He is buried in the Texas State Cemetery. His wooden leg is kept as a relic at the National Headquarters of Beta Theta Pi in Oxford, Ohio.
In the First Battle of Newtonia, the Union Commander, Frederick Salomon was born in Prussia. He immigrated to the USA and eventually became a Brigadier General in the Union Army. One of his brothers was a Governor of Wisconsin and another was a General in the Union Army. After the war he was the Surveyor General of Utah Territory. He is laid to rest in Salt Lake at Mount Olivet Cemetery.
His Confederate counterpart, Douglas H. Cooper had previously put together the 1st Choctaw and Chickasaw Rifles which later became known as The Indian Brigade. His father was a physician and a Baptist minister. He spent the rest of his life after the war in Indian Territory and was an ardent supporter of Choctaw and Chickasaw land claims against the Federal Government. He is buried in an unmarked grave at Fort Washita in Oklahoma.
While it is my understanding that some Christians are against the swearing of oaths, particularly the Mennonites, it must be remembered that many people do swear oaths. The fact that they attend churches, synagogues or mosques does not change the difficulty in ascertaining where their loyalties may reside. If such people are in positions of power, as invariably they seem to gravitate to, the results of their stewardship can be quite different from what they profess to stand for.
Thus, I think that Restorative Justice is a good way to go for petty offences. For crimes of a serious nature committed by any age group, I don't think that RJ is the answer. A certain percentage of people are aberrant and can never get along with others. The underlying problems of the artificially created systems in which we live will not be fixed by the forgiveness of victims. Those underlying problems may instead lead to the achievement of a critical mass of forgiven bruised reeds being set against an unseen leader’s perceived enemies.
fin