Redemption and Restorative Justice in Periods of Institutional Transition

by Elmer S Soriano

“Any fool can be happy. It takes a man with real heart to make beauty 

out of the stuff that makes us weep.” 

― Clive Barker

There was massive looting in the period immediately after Typhoon Haiyan ravaged Tacloban City, leaving over 6,000 people dead. Because families lost their household supply of food, water, and medicine supplies, fathers took along their able-bodies children to acquire supplies from groceries and malls, racing with each other households to get some infant formula, bread, clothes. An aquaintance in Tacloban who was looking for infant formula during that period saw a kid with several bags of powdered milk, and asked   friend who also participated in this mentioned that others also took home flatscreen TVs and other items that were not of survival value. 

How should a community or society deal with periods of individual and collective guilt? How can one apologize and make amends and move on?  

In South Africa, they created the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to institutionalize redemption.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was a court-like restorative justice[1] body assembled in South Africa after the abolition of apartheid in the 1990s.[2] Witnesses who were identified as victims of gross human rights violations were invited to give statements about their experiences, and some were selected for public hearings. Perpetrators of violence could also give testimony and request amnesty from both civil and criminal prosecution.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth_and_Reconciliation_Commission_(South_Africa)

How might one navigate through the period of institutional transition?

First, recognize that most stakeholders are honoring certain values they hold dear: family survival and security, protection from threats, medium to long-term liveability of the communities, integrity, rule of law. Stakeholders just express these values and deploy themselves in different ways.

Second, temporary or permanent changes in the rules will make stakeholders appear guilty in the eyes of others, regardless of where they stood, because the line (between correct and incorrect behavior) was moved.

The concept of Restorative Justice helps one navigate through the process of redemption.

Restorative justice is an approach to justice that focuses on the needs of the victims and the offenders, as well as the involved community. This contrasts to more punitive approaches where the main aim is to punish the offender, or satisfy abstract legal principles. 

Victims take an active role in the process. Meanwhile, offenders are encouraged to take responsibility for their actions, "to repair the harm they've done – by apologizing, returning stolen money, or community service".[1] In addition, the restorative justice approach aims to help the offender to avoid future offences.
The approach is based on a theory of justice that considers crime and wrongdoing to be an offence against an individual or community, rather than the State.[2]Restorative justice that fosters dialogue between victim and offender has shown the highest rates of victim satisfaction and offender accountability.[3]

         Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restorative_justice

Image credits:

http://stephenking1sts.com/wp-content/uploads/The-Shawshank-Redemption-Escape-in-the-rain.jpg