THIS year’s 15th staging of Restorative Justice Week takes place from February 4 to 11 under the theme ‘Transformation, Peace, and Harmony through Restorative Justice’.

The activities are being hosted by the Restorative Justice Branch of the Ministry of Justice.

Branch Director Joanalee Robertson said on Monday that the activities will allow Jamaicans to access first-hand information about the programme and its impact, “not just in their community but across parishes and, by extension, the wider society”.

The engagements will commence with a national church service on February 4 at New Beulah Moravian Church in Mandeville, Manchester, beginning at 10:00 am.

“So, in celebrating our theme we’re inviting persons to come out to worship with us as we start the week on [this] footing, recognising that through the assistance of our Heavenly Father we can proceed into what lies ahead,” Robertson said.

The week’s activities continue on February 6 with the re-signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Ministry of Education and Youth, which facilitates the use of restorative justice practices in conflict resolution interventions in schools.

The MOU, which was first signed in 2022, aims to equip students and other education stakeholders with the requisite skills and strategies to resolve conflicts and disputes.

Robertson said that the MOU, now in its fourth cohort of training, has yielded significant results so far.

“We have successfully trained over 8,000 participants, and this is inclusive of not just students but also parents and teachers as well, [and] various administrative staff. We have taken this collaborative approach, recognising that the school is a major socialising agent for society, and so what better fitting space — in addition to our churches and our homes — where we can then equip persons with the proper conflict-resolution strategies,” she said.

Robertson noted that people living outside the Corporate Area would have the benefit of services being provided by team members, facilitators, and other allied stakeholders from restorative justice centres across the country, who will be mobilised to conduct various activities on February 6.

“They are going to be having their individual activities to ensure that persons within their communities and within their parish can access restorative justice; and not only… access it but [be enlightened on] what restorative justice is and the benefits to each of the parties where they utilise restorative justice,” she said.

On February 7 the 15th annual Restorative Justice Conference will be held at Spanish Court Hotel in Kingston, beginning at 10:00 am.

The conference, which is the week’s main activity, will bring together key stakeholders and members of the public, with a focus on youth participation.

“We want young people to have a voice. We want them to contribute. We want them to share how it is that we can make our services better, how it is that we can reach them. We want them to be a part of the dialogue because restorative justice and restorative practices is not one-sided; it is all inclusive… and so everybody has a say,” said Robertson.

Meanwhile, an awards ceremony for institutions completing the training programme is slated for February 8, and the activities will conclude with parish church services islandwide on February 10 and 11.

“So it is a week that promises to be exciting. We are so excited for it that we want persons to come on board and we want them to see that restorative justice is not just another programme; it is a programme that is timely and timeless. Crime prevention is everybody’s business,” Robertson said.