The JUST Alternatives Inquiry/Comment Center is a moderated site for any questions, comments, experiences, or observations you wish to share about victims/survivors, offenders, victimization or violation, Victim Offender Dialogue, or any other relevant victim-centered or offender-accountability-oriented matters. We will all learn from these sharings. Your identity will be protected at your request, but we will need to know in confidence who you are and how to reach you.
I for one do NOT believe that justice can be reached without the voice of the victim. A society that attempts to silence or sensor the voice of crime victims increases the burden victims must carry. Society would be wise to remember that crime victims do not volunteer, they are chosen by the actions or inaction of others. But what do I know, I only spent 18 years crying myself to sleep, pleading for my nightmare to be over. If you believe that Dylan Roof’s complaint is valid, or the Judge’s warning is just. I pray that you will never have to walk in my shoes, but if you do I will listen to your voice, I will hear your pain… even if you didn’t want to hear mine or others like me. I can say these words today because Jon Wilson helped my voice and my pain be heard… and God carried me the rest of the way!
On Dylann Roof: One reason we’re compelled to keep making the case for Victim-Centered justice practices is addressed in the Washington Post piece (link below). Consider that, along with the outrage of Dylann Roof’s complaint, even the Judge has warned the Prosecution about too much emotional testimony from survivors. How have we ended up with a system where those who have lost the Most can be silenced by those who have not? What IS justice if not for allowing the harms and devastation of violent crime to be described by those harmed? Is justice about “fairness” and “impartiality” or is it about “righteousness”? What IS justice to you? How should we define it for our society?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/dylann-roof-says-its-not-fair-he-has-to-hear-so-much-from-the-loved-ones-of-his-victims/2017/01/05/e77a2156-d347-11e6-945a-76f69a399dd5_story.html?utm_term=.b1871e688f73