A Unique Type of Sentencing: The Use of a Circle to Involve the Community in Sentencing
| Author | Colin Hayes |
| Published date | 01 January 2001 |
| Date | 01 January 2001 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/0032258X0107400303 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
DR COLIN HAYES
Formerly Chief
of
Police, Parry Sound, Ontario, and lately
Lecturer in Criminology, The University
of
Texas
of
the Permian
Basin, Odessa
AUNIQUE TYPE OF SENTENCING:
THE USE OF A CIRCLE TO
INVOLVE THE COMMUNITY IN
SENTENCING
Alarming rates of recidivism and escalating costs in monetary and
human terms have forced western societies to search for alternatives to
their less than perfect justice systems. Much of the energy expended
in this search has focused on sentencing. While the underlying prob-
lems of crime and the gross inadequacies of the justice system stem
from much broader, deeper ills within society, significant immediate
improvement within the court process can be achieved by changing the
way sentencing is carried out.
The search for improving sentencing suggests a greater role for
victims of crime, reconciliation, restraint in the use of incarceration and
a broadening of sentencing alternatives that call for less government
expenditure and more community participation. Many studies expose
the imprudence of excessive reliance upon punishment as the central
objective in sentencing, and accord greater emphasis to rehabilitation
and reconciliation which call for communities to become more actively
involved and assume more responsibility for resolving conflict. For this
participation to be meaningful there must be power-sharing between
criminal courts and communities in the decision-making process.
Where appropriate, communities must be empowered to resolve many
conflicts which at present are processed only through criminal courts.
In March 1992, an innovative sentencing took place in Mayo, a
small native community of 317 persons in the Yukon. The court curcuit
flew to Mayo for a one-day court to deal with several charges against
Philip Moses, a 26-year-old member of the Na-cho
Ny'ak
Dun, First
Nation of Mayo, Yukon, and the third youngest in Tommy Moses and
Catherine Germaine's family of four sons and five daughters. Tommy
Moses suffers from health problems resulting from long-standing
alcohol abuse, whereas Catherine Germaine is a source of strength and
ability in the family for, despite alcohol problems in the past, she has
been sober for eight years. All of Philip's brothers have suffered from
substance abuse, and all but one have long criminal records. Philip's
sisters, after surviving an early childhood full of extreme alcohol abuse,
now raise their own families. Philip himself has a 6-year-old son whom
he rarely sees and he plays no part in parenting the child.
196 The Police Journal, Volume 74 (2001)
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