Restorative Justice
October 21, 2023 § 2 Comments
Marina, the life partner of another friend of ours, Claudio, was killed in a bicycle accident a few days ago. She was hit from behind by a young person who was distracted while driving—not sure exactly how at this point.
This circle of friends, who live all over the place, meet every few months by Zoom, and we met night before last. Claudio spoke for a long time about their relationship, what he knows about the accident, his emotional state, the days following; he was visiting family in Italy when the accident occurred.
He said several times that he was not “spiritual,” it was Marina who was spiritual. But every word out of his mouth, every meditation of his heart, was deeply, deeply spiritual. Especially, for me, what he had to say about the driver, who is being charged with something very serious—involuntary homicide? I don’t quite remember, except that it was homicide of some kind.
Claudio didn’t know whether he would have an opportunity to address the judge in the case, but he know what he wanted to say.
The person (a man, he thinks) should spend as much time in jail as Marina lived on life support between when she was admitted and when her organs were harvested, a few days. Then he should not be in jail. He should have to address young people ten times a year for I don’t remember how long about the folly, danger, and wrongness of driving while distracted. And for some time, the duration of which I also don’t remember, twice a week, he should volunteer at an animal shelter to walk dogs; Marina was a dog walker for part of her income.
This, I thought, was such a great example of restorative justice, which tries to be transformative rather than punitive.
He also spoke about forgiveness, which he says he’s working on, with some success. It was a beautiful and horrible time we had together.
Through the Flaming Sword 
MelanieHere’s a Quaker blogger I subscribe to. But nothin” there you haven’t already written, methinks. Love,Mark
Thank you for sharing this heartbreaking and heart-opening story.