Handbook on Restorative justice programmes

HANDBOOK ON RESTORATIVE JUSTICE PROGRAMMES
Case Study
Robbery by a youth
James was a 17 year-old boy who was charged with robbery following an
incident that took place in November 2000. James held up a cab driver
while holding a knife to his throat. James was soon apprehended and the
cab driver’s wallet was retrieved. The case was referred to us through a
judicial pre-trial with judge, defence and crown all agreeing that this was
an appropriate referral.
We met with James and his mother who was very distraught about her
son’s ‘out of character’ behaviour. She required support to cope with the
fact that her son had become involved in the criminal justice system. James
sincerely expressed remorse and responsibility. I explained the goals of the
project and they agreed to participate.
We contacted the victim and, although somewhat sceptical, he agreed to
meet. The victim is a young immigrant who was deeply impacted by the
robbery. At this point in the process, he wanted nothing from the accused.
He did, however, want to convey to the accused how this had affected
him, i.e. his increased fear, his growing bias against teenagers and what
the loss of his immigration card would have meant to him.
We relayed this information to James who seemed to gain a fuller com-
prehension of the issues the victim was dealing with. He offered to write
a letter of apology to the victim.
The victim was open to receiving a letter. He seemed to be somewhat sur-
prised at the level of sincerity expressed in the letter. The victim began to
share more of what this experience had meant to him and admitted that
he had missed work the week following the robbery due to his fear. As
a result he lost wages amounting to $800.00.
James (and his mother) agreed that the victim should not lose any money
as a result of something James had done. James offered to make monthly
payments until this debt was covered. The victim agreed to this and the
payments began.
We continued to work with James regarding the root causes of his behav-
iour and to assist him in recognizing the impact his behaviour had, not
only on the victim and his family but on James and his family as well. He
began addressing his problems; he started school and soon found part
time work. His mother reported that their relationship had much improved
and James’ behaviour at home had become much more cooperative.

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chapter 2