KINGSTON, Jamaica — More than 12,000 students have benefitted from training in restorative justice practices under an initial two-year memorandum of understanding (MOU) established in May 2022 between the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Education, Skills, Youth and Information.

A second MOU, signed in February 2024, will facilitate the continuation of the exercise until April 2026.

The training’s implementation is being spearheaded by the Restorative Justice (RJ) Branch in the Justice Ministry’s Social Justice Division.

Restorative Justice aims to resolve conflict by having all parties involved come together to reach an agreement.

Through the MOUs, the programme’s key principles are introduced to students during the two-day training exercise to promote healthy conflict resolution skills, according to Acting Director of the RJ Branch, Sheron Betancourt, who outlined the activities to come.

“In the upcoming months, we expect to reach many of those schools that we have not had had an opportunity to reach before, as well as some schools [which] have requested that we return to do additional training,” she said during a recent Jamaica Information Service (JIS) ‘Think Tank’.

Betancourt also highlighted the effectiveness of restorative justice in resolving workplace conflicts, based on a recent referral.

“Contact was made with us regarding employer/employee conflict; even their Human Resources (HR) Department was not able to resolve this, and it was escalating. The organisation reached out to us to see if we could provide a presentation initially. But after presenting on workplace conflict, they asked about the other services, which is one of our [RJ] circles,” she stated.

RJ circles are sessions or conferences in which all parties in a matter come together to talk about an incident, share their thoughts and feelings and decide on a plan to repair any harm caused.

“We were able to sit with employee and employer as well as other persons within the organisation. The main problem [was] persons felt they were not [being] heard; and so we gave them the opportunity to hear each other and understand each other’s perspectives. They were able to resolve the conflict, and the employee is still employed,” Betancourt further shared.

The Restorative Justice Branch provides services to persons in conflict or disagreement, without the need for them to resort to the formal judicial system.

These services can be provided at the community level, in schools and in workplaces.

For more information on how to access these services or apply to become a restorative justice facilitator, contact (876) 908-5527 or the Ministry of Justice’s toll-free line at 888-JUSTICE (888-587-8423), or visit their website at www.moj.gov.jm.

— JIS