Tali Gal

Forming Partnerships: The Human Rights of Children in Need of Care and Protection

The care and protection of children experiencing or considered to be at risk of abuse or neglect within their families is a major policy dilemma. Children in the care and protection system do not fare well on a range of indicators, when compared to the overall population. In recent years there have been significant changes in policies and support for children in out of home care, including the adoption of the language of rights. Nevertheless, the care and protection of children who enter the system bearing that name is often dubbed one of social policy’s ‘wicked problems’. This paper synthesizes concepts of human rights, children’s needs and citizenship as a basis for redefining policy and services for children in out-of-home care. We suggest that improved support for children in out of home care requires the recognition of children as partners.

Characterizing community courts

Community courts (CCs) provide a therapeutic diversion for repeat low-level offenders. This article explores the characteristics of two Israeli CCs using the Criminal Law Taxonomy (CLT), an instrument developed by the authors for assessing process-, stakeholder-, substance-, and outcomes-related characteristics of criminal justice mechanisms. Through court-hearing observations and a process of multi-rater coding of cases, the article analyzes the courtroom dynamics according to a set of 13 measurable parameters. The process was conceived as a vehicle for promoting the model goals: it was highly offender-oriented and involved a needs-based terminology while allowing for restrained expression of emotion. However, the process included no victim-offender dialogue and offender supporters and community representatives were only partially involved. The findings provide information about the programs implementation integrity; they also offer a basis for comparison with the characteristics of other justice mechanisms. While focusing on an Israeli program, the issues the article addresses reflect practices and controversies that are salient in many jurisdictions worldwide.

‘The conflict is ours’: community involvement in restorative justice

Abstract Restorative justice (RJ) has attracted extended research relating to its potential to reduce crime, achieve fairness, and promote victims’ well-being, but there is only limited discussion about the involvement of the community in RJ processes. This study employs grounded theory approach to analyze 26 documented files handled by a RJ program in Jerusalem, Israel. It proposes a multilayered construction of community involvement in RJ referring to four modes of community involvement: facilitators, community representatives, social networks, and the direct stakeholders. The analysis uncovers the unique characteristics of each entity, their potential contribution in promoting community interests, and the challenges in fulfilling their potential contribution. The Article further offers a responsive definition for community representation. Practical implications for RJ programs are discussed.

Child Victims in the Criminal Justice System

The previous chapter reviewed empirical findings regarding the psycho–social needs of child victims. This evidence–based examination has been integrated with the normative human rights framework presented in Chapter 2. Together they create a multidisciplinary model which can be used to evaluate public responses to crimes against children. The current chapter utilizes the needs–rights model to examine the current legal responses to childhood victimization in adversarial criminal justice systems and their ability to meet the human rights and needs of child victims. At first glance, the characteristics of the adversarial criminal justice process in Western societies seem to overlook many of the needs–rights of child victims. Their rehabilitation and best interests, while possibly in the background, are not assigned high priority in the process. Child victims’ participation is limited and problematic. Important aspects of children’s development and the right to equality are further neglected. As to protection, while this is clearly a goal of the criminal justice system (unlike the other human rights principles), the low reporting rates of crimes against children, and the evidentiary difficulties associated with such crimes, make it difficult for the criminal justice system to reach this goal in a satisfactory manner. Further, an investigation into the psycho–social needs of child victims, such as an apology, direct (positive) interaction with the perpetrator, validation and mourning, reveals that they are typically not addressed in the criminal process. These matters are discussed in this chapter, as well as some suggestions for making the criminal justice process more oriented toward the needs–rights of child victims. Accordingly, this chapter begins by uncovering the strains related to the involvement in the criminal justice process for all victims. These difficulties result from the fact–oriented nature of the process, which requires victims to discuss their victimization in detail, leaving out any ‘irrelevant’ information such as their feelings, background or special circumstances. Additionally, the outcomes of the process are typically dichotomous — either acquittal or a finding of guilt — with incarceration often linked with the latter. These outcomes can cause significant emotional burden on victims: if the offender is acquitted, then the message is one of disbelief in the victim’s report. If the offender is found guilty (and consequently has to endure

Restorative Justice Experiences Involving Child Victims

The previous chapter has argued that the rights and needs of children who have been victimized are not fully met when their cases are handled by the criminal justice system. Child victims need and deserve to take active part in the process that follows their victimization, or at least to have the choice to decide not to take part in it. Child victims need and deserve a fair process in which they are treated with respect, their specific needs, interests and wishes are considered and their rehabilitation is a central concern. Possible specific needs of child victims might be having a group discussion whereby their harm is acknowledged, their behavior validated, the perpetrator apologizes and reparation is negotiated. The criminal justice process, as shown in chapter 4, completely neglects many of these needs– rights, fails to address some of them even when considered, and often traumatizes children through their exposure to an unfriendly process as witnesses. In contrast, restorative justice fits well, at least ostensibly, the needs–rights model for child victims. As this chapter shows, restorative justice offers an environment where, at least in theory, victims are provided an opportunity to have significant control over the process that follows their victimization and its outcomes by being active partners in it. The victim’s family, friends and significant others are invited and encouraged to provide support, both during and after the process. The participants ideally listen to the victim’s story, acknowledge the harm and validate the victim’s behavior. Issues of self–blame have the potential of being resolved as the victim is given an opportunity to discuss his or her behavior with sympathetic listeners. At the same time, offenders are expected to take full responsibility for the harm they have caused the victim, and ideally to apologize. Moreover, the flexible, creative nature of restorative justice allows a range of different processes and accommodations to meet the needs and varying coping preferences of different children, according to their age and specific needs. Moreover, restorative justice might hold particular potential for young victims. The studies discussed in Chapter 3 by Call and Mortimer (2001) and Seiffge-Krenke (1995), for example, support the claim that restorative justice may provide an opportunity for different arenas of comfort to be strengthened and for new, or perhaps