Arrowsmith Community Justice Society

Shortcuts

• Address
• Telephone
• Alerts
• Contact The Organization

• 

  Want your organization to be the top-listed Non Profit Organization in Parksville?

Our Story

Arrowsmith Community Justice Society (ACJS) was implemented in 1999 and is located in Parksville, BC. Our purpose is to administer a community-based restorative justice program . ACJS promotes conferencing as a resolution and peacemaking mechanism for conflict in the community. We strive to involve interested community citizens and resources to accomplish the above service.

Restorative Justice is a new framework for the criminal justice system that is rapidly gaining acceptance and support throughout British Columbia and Canada, as it has done in many countries world-wide. It is a philosophical framework which has been proposed as an alternative to the current way of thinking about crime and criminal justice. Restorative justice emphasizes the ways in which crime harms relationships in the context of community. Crime is viewed as a violation of the victim and community, not as a violation of the state.

The restorative justice model makes the offender accountable to the victim and the community. Accountability is defined as taking responsibility for ones actions and repairing the harm caused to the victim and the community. It provides for immediate, active participation by the victim, the offender and the community in the process of repairing the fabric of community peace. As the parties involved in the incident meet to tell the story of the offence from their perspective, emotion is expressed and valued, and understanding is developed. This foundation provides the meeting with the potential to conclude with an agreement which is particular to the dispute, as well as, achievable by the parties. The model vales the parties voluntary and direct participation in this process, whose goal is to create a valid agreement which will resolve the injustice. A valid agreement must ensure that the debt is feasibly paid and the harm done is repaired. Following the completion of the restitution, the restorative justice concept promotes the reintegration of both the victim and the offender into the community as a whole and contributing member.

Community and personal safety and peace are at the core of the restorative justice philosophy. It promotes community ownership through local involvement; developing and implementing justice programs which will reflect community values, as well as transforming community perception, relationships and structures. Restorative justice is a framework through which we can all share our community peacemaking responsibilities.

 ...