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Yesterday I attended the 90 minute trial of a man whose
"home" (and that of his father) is under a freeway near my Ricci
Centre. Both men have been in prison many times, the son more than a dozen
times for theft ("stealing from a person") and burglary
("stealing from a premises). Both were released at the end of January
this year, just before Lunar New Year ....and were told to wait till
after LNY to apply for social service help ....and with no money they
again stole. Both are now back in prison.
Son yesterday got 2 years for burglary. He's from a disadvantaged family,
had only primary education, has been caught in the vicious circle of
poverty and crime most of his life. Now back in prison, he will cost
society a large sum to be detained for two more years, and on release will
very likely steal again.
The above legal system follows Retributive Justice - "punishment
the best way to deal with crime ....you do the
crime, you do the time". Everyone loses: victim, offender and
society. Victim's money won't be returned. Society will foot a bill
many times larger than victim's money to pay for offender's 2 years
imprisonment. Offender will re-offend.
There's another way: Restorative Justice - "you
make up for what you have done/stolen etc".
Everyone wins: victim gets money back (repaid by the offender), offender
is helped to break with life of crime, and society saves a fortune. The
earlier this process starts in the life of an offender, the more
successful it has shown to be.
Restorative Justice used to be part of the ancient
culture of China and many other nations, and still features in the
legal systems of countries like Fiji. Retributive Justice is the basic
system of most parts of the world, especially the Western world, and can
lead to the sad situation of the US where more than two million people are
behind bars ....most of them poor people like the above offender, as the
vicious cycle of poverty and violence swirls like an expanding hurricane
Jesus, please help our world replace
Retributive Justice with Restorative Justice!
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Wednesday
May 21
Today
is the feast day of Eugene
de Mazenod
who died on
this day in 1861 in France |
As
a young priest Eugene nearly died after contracting typhus from prison
ministry.
He founded the Oblates of Mary Immaculte
(O.M.I.),
a congregation with preference for the poor.
Coming from a troubled family, Eugene is a patron of dysfunctional
families.
St Eugene de Mazenod, pray for us!
For some special readings today, please scroll down to
the quotations from St Eugene at the Eugene de Mazenod link, above |
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