Courage and Vulnerability--Two Key Ingredients to Healing the Effects of Crime

Saturday night I reluctantly attended our monthly restorative justice club meeting at Handlon Correctional Facility. I was reluctant for no other reason than that I had just started a new semester in college, and I had a lot of homework to do. I wasn't looking forward to another meeting. But, boy, am I glad I went! This meeting, which was attended by around twenty Calvin Prison Initiative (CPI) students, a CPI professor/sponsor, and several students from Calvin College's Knollcrest campus, was opened by a presentation from a CPI student. This student nervously started his PowerPoint presentation and began the story of his incarceration. From the very beginning of his presentation, my attention was riveted; you could hear a pin drop in the room. He spoke of his normal upbringing and the shift in his life where things began to go wrong. He told of that critical moment where he made choices that would forever alter his life, and more importantly would alter the lives of many others, including the woman he killed. I began to experience a deep emotional response as he shared in unfiltered language the rippling effects of his actions, for I, too, often think of the rippling effects of my crime. I was profoundly moved by the courage and vulnerability of this CPI student, who is serving life in prison, as he shared the details of the harms he caused. I felt intense empathy for his victim, for his ex-fiance whose life spiraled out of control when he was convicted, and for the many others whose lives were shattered by his crime. You see, crime never harms the primary victim alone. After this student's presentation, we broke into three groups to discuss restorative justice issues through the lens of Larry Nasser's recent conviction. Nassar is a former gymnastics doctor who was accused of sexually assaulting over 200 young women, and who was recently convicted for several of these assaults and sentenced to 40-175 years in prison, in addition to the 60-year federal sentence he already received. We discussed whether or not the victims, Nassar, and the community received justice. To have this discussion, we had to define what justice looked like for each party--not an easy take. The discussion was riveting and emotional as we considered the impact this case had on each party. Restorative justice is complex and not everyone will agree on what justice is for each case or each party in a case. But, it is important to have these discussions because it enhances our ability to empathize with the far-reaching impact our crimes and the crimes of others have had. It also compels us to think about what justice really means, to our victims, to the communities affected by our crimes, and lastly to ourselves. The true healing that restorative justice promotes in the lives of victims, offenders, and affected communities can only take place when people are courageous and vulnerable. I'm grateful for the courage and vulnerability of the CPI student who shared his story, and I'm moved with compassion by the courage and vulnerability of Nassar's victims who publicly shared the devastating impact his crimes had on them. It is in these moments of courage and vulnerability that real healing begins to take place.