Multicultural Implications of Restorative Justice

Potential pitfalls and dangers. Based on the research by Umbreit

& Coates

The Office of Victims Advocates

• Victims decide whether or not to participate

• Both victim and offender must both be treated with respect

Victims are granted a choice in:

• Location

• Timing

• Structure of session

• A right to stop participating at any stage in the process

People from different cultures & world views have different ways of:• Speaking

• behaving

Natural cultural differences can easily lead to:

• Misunderstandings

• Destroy the best efforts at conflict resolution

• End the hopes of restoring and repairing relationships

The key to progress in RJ is:

• Increased sensitivity to cross-cultural issues

• Dynamics that affect RJ programs

• Often the cultural background of victim, offender and program staff member are different

• Great danger can occur with overgeneralizations

Proximity – comfortable with standing closer together:

Africans Arabs

Black Americans South Americans

Indonesians The French

Latin Americans

Body Movements:

• Posture

• Smiling

• Eye contact

• Laughing

• Gestures

• And many others…..

Examples:

• Asians may by puzzled or offended by a White person who smiles or grimaces

• Whites may conclude that an Asian person has no emotion.

Eye contact

• American Indians: Disrespectful to look an elder or person of authority in the eye

• Blacks make more frequent eye contact when speaking than when listening

• Whites tend to make eye contact when listening than when speaking

Paralanguage

• Hesitations

• Inflections

• Silences

• Volume

• Pace of speaking

Silence

• To American Indian culture it is valued as sacred

• Each human must have the opportunity to:• Reflect• To translate into words• Shape the words

What silence means to others:

• French = agreement

• Asian = token of respect or politeness

• Whites= time for them to talk

Volume

• Asians – speak softly

• Whites – founder than Asians

• Arabs – prefer higher volume

Density of language

• Blacks – sparse and concise

• Asians & American Indians – will use many more words to say the same thing

Other defining characteristics that can have an impact

• Race

• Socioeconomic status

• Ethnicity

• Gender

• Religion

• Sexual orientation

• Rural vs. urban residence

Characteristics of culturally skilled Restorative Justice Practitioners

• There are a total of five

• All are necessary for RJ

#1

• CSRJ is aware and sensitive to his or her cultural heritage

• Values and respects differences in culture

#2

• CSRJ is aware of their own values and biases

#3

• CSRJ is comfortable with the differences that exist

• Between themselves and clients

• In terms of race & beliefs

#4

• CSRJ is sensitive to circumstances that may dictate referral of a minority client to a member of their own race/culture

• Or to another CSRJ

#5

• CSRJ acknowledges and is aware of their own racist attitudes, beliefs and feelings

Other things to remember:

• Do not make quick assumptions about others

• Look at the world through the eyes of another

• Listen to key informants

Meaningful mediation requires:

• Anticipating possible problems

• CSRJ may need to help other participants understand each other’s viewpoints

• Communication styles

• Prior to mediation session