Lindsey Pointer, PhD

Conference Participants:

• Offender –Brian (15)
• Offender Support- Brian’s mother
• 2 Facilitators
• 2 Community Members
• Police Officer
• Diversion Officer

Criminal Charges Pending: Resisting Arrest

Referring agent: Juvenile Diversion Program

Factual Synopsis: A fifteen year old boy resisted arrest when he was stopped by an officer for a curfew violation. He was referred to restorative justice by his diversion officer.

Narrative:

“Brian isn’t a bad kid. His brother was always in trouble and struggling, but Brian is not that kid.” I heard the worried urgency in Brian’s mother’s voice when we spoke on the phone during our first intake call. My fingers raced on the keyboard, trying to keep up with her mile-per-minute description of Brian’s pending criminal charges. “It’s really no big deal, just a curfew ticket. He isn’t a bad kid.”

Brian’s charges were a big deal though. When the officer stopped Brian and his friend on their way to buy energy drinks at a gas station at 2am, his friend politely complied while Brian freaked out. He began yelling at the officer and tried to run away. When the officer grabbed his backpack to stop him, he spun around, squaring up on her. Brian is 15 and about 6 feet tall. He is making the shift, from a boy to a man, and when he faced off with the officer it was formidable. She later shared that, in that moment, she had already decided how far she would let it go before pulling her gun to shoot. Instead, Brian decided to run, still yelling profanities, and didn’t come back until he noticed his friend, sitting quietly on the curb. When he came back, the officer handcuffed him and charged him with resisting arrest.

In lieu of court, Brian’s case was handled by diversion and was referred to Restorative Justice by his diversion officer. When I met Brian, it didn’t take long to see that this incident was not a full representation of who he is. Brian is bright-eyed and polite. He loves math and science and is already looking at summer internships in engineering. He sings in the school choir and is trying out for the a cappella group next year. He told me he sings everywhere, from the shower to the lunchroom, no matter who is around. Overall, Brian is a good kid who made a mistake and acted in a way he shouldn’t have.

During the conference, Brian spoke clearly and apologetically about the incident. He listened carefully while the officer who he had encountered that night spoke about her thought process in that moment, choking up as she described preparing herself to pull a weapon if necessary. The two community members spoke about their concern for Brian’s safety and their fears that a similar explosion of anger could result in him being hurt or killed in a number of situations. Brian listened, and responded with remorse. He shared that he was touched by the care of the people in the circle.

When Brian’s diversion officer spoke, she spoke of Brian’s older brother. She had known Brian’s older brother when he was an adolescent. “I worked with your brother, Brian, and he got in a lot of trouble for a long time. But this isn’t like you. Having gotten to know you, I don’t think this is what you’re like at all.” I looked across the circle at Brian and he had started to cry. He spoke up, “After this happened, I was really nervous that I have the same problems as him, that I’m as angry as him.” Hearing this, his mother began to cry as well. This interaction illuminated another major harm: harm to Brian and his sense of self.

There are a number of reasons that being arrested, put through the court system, and in extreme cases, through juvenile detention, is harmful to youth. The process requires time and energy away from normal educational and social activities and is a landmine of intricacies that if not followed exactly, can result in the youth being in even greater trouble. Perhaps most harmful though, is the impact of the traditional justice system on self-perception. By treating youth like criminals, we teach them to think of themselves as criminals. The stigmatizing shame experienced by offenders often leads them to reject the rejector (mainstream society) and the rules of the rejector (laws). A solution to this isolation and shame is to turn to criminal subcultures, which provide a culture of pride in delinquency. In this way, failing to properly address harm to self perpetuates criminal behavior and ultimately makes communities less safe.

In Brian’s Restorative Justice circle, we had the chance to address harm to self. One of the community members suggested that Brian make a list of qualities he likes about himself to be posted on some item that means a lot to him. Brian took that idea and ran with it. By the end of the conference, he had described an elaborate hand-made mobile he planned to make out of music notes connected by fishing wire, each with a statement of something he likes about himself on it. Perhaps more important than the specific contract item that arose to address the harm, Brian had the opportunity to sit in a group of people who were there to hear about his mistake, while still seeing him as a whole person and caring deeply about him. He had the opportunity to be embraced and supported by the community, flaws and all.