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CPNN Administrator
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(The following is continued from the main article listed above.)
Although some call it utopian, restorative justice is a reality. It does not consist of simply seeking the forgiveness of the victims, as has been erroneously described on occasion. "It can happen that the victim ends up forgiving the offender, but it does not always happen. And that is not our main goal," according to the judge. Instead, this new form of justice aims to rearrange the relationships by clarifying the realtionships, and it does not always, as ironic as it may seem, require a trial. "All affected parties and stakeholders in a conflict come together to resolve collectively how to deal with the outcome of the situation."
The experience of Egberto Penido reveals that the current judicial system is extremely complex and costly for the state, while it does not give real responsibility to the defendant, who may never realize the real damage that has been caused to the victim. "It is a very strong and heavy responsibility for those who caused the pain to be faced in a restorative circle with the person whose life was changed by that act," he says.
One of the cases cited during the forum was that of a security guard who became paraplegic in Rio Grande do Sul after being hit by the gunshot fired by a young man during a fight in a bar. Two years later, the security guard agreed to meet personally the aggressor in a restorative circle. At that meeting, the family of the boy who committed the crime faced up to the consequences of the episode and became aware of the financial difficulties faced by security guard and everyone around him after the accident. Besides the penalty charged to the defendant, the family agreed to pay a pension to the family of the victim.
In practice, restorative justice does not exclude use of the traditional judicial system. The two processes can happen simultaneously. Asked if this new methodology is appropriate only for minor cases, Penido said no. There was talk then the process could be used by the Truth Commission, recently created by the federal government to review the cases of torture and disappearances during the dictatorship in Brazil. "I think it would be a great opportunity. One of the strongest experiences of restorative justice comes precisely from South Africa after the end of apartheid."
Mediators and others involved in restorative circles need to be trained and to learn the correct techniques of inquiry and conciliation. However, the biggest challenge now is to make the practice of restorative justice on a larger scale in Brazil. One of the main agents of this change may be just the education sector. "The education system should be concerned not only with the transmission of knowledge, but also with learning how to live," said Egberto Penido. According to him, justice is not only the responsibility of the judiciary, but also of other sectors of society, such as health, culture, education and police. "The dynamic effect of punishment removes the power that people have to transform the conflict and learn from it."
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