The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, November 19, 2003 - A3 Justice forums see criminals admit guilt and repay their debt to victims By SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN SOME small-time criminals are finding a different way of making amends for their offences these days. For about seven months some offenders in Terrace have been taking a unique route not offered through the court system. Instead of going through a lengthy court: process community justice forums see decisions for reparalion.agreed upon by he.of- fender and the victim together. The forums are designed to ‘bring together offenders with their victims and families to discuss the situation and find an appropri- ate way-to deal with the offender. The forums are designed pri- marily for minor offences such as vandalism or shoplifting. - It's an option for offenders of all ages but the majority of the offenders are youth. With this year’s change from the Young Offenders Act to the new Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCIA) there is an increased focus on not processing youth through the court system. . Police officers are encouraged to look for alternative ways of re- storing justice and reducing the amount of young people going to court, says the program's RCMP liaison Cnst. Jack Hundial. The community justice forums are'one way of meeting the new mandate of the YCJA. At first glance it can be seen as an “easy” way out to avoid criminal charges and court dates. Not so, says Jose Coosemans, the program's community coordi- nator. He says the traditional court system is not only alienating for the offender and victim, court ap- pearances are often delayed or CONSTABLE Jack Hundial and Jose Caosemans meet with offenders and victims in this room at the RCMP detachment where community justice forums are providing an alternative to court. missed by offenders unwilling to appear. "You're really treated like a number and some people would prefer that because they don’t really face what they've done,” Coosemans says. make amends. “People think this is going easy on crime,” he says. “It’s not ~ I think it takes a lot of courage to face the victims and even their own families.” The forums encourage victims “People think this is going easy on crime. it’s not. | think it takes a lot of courage to face the vic- tims and even their own families.” The community justice forums, however, are no walk in the park for the offenders, he says. The very basis of the program is an admittance of guilt and a desire to take responsibility and and offenders to bring support people, be they family members or friends to participate, Family ‘members are often affected by the fallout of a criminal act and the forums give them a chance to voice how the crime has affected them, Both parties gather in a meet- ing room at the Terrace RCMP detachment, meeting face-to face and using pre-written scripts to guide them through the process. — ‘It allows the victims to freely talk about the impact the crime has had while making an attempt to understand why the offender committed the offence. | It by no means works for every- one, but so far in Terrace, the pro- gram has had a high success rate, Coosemans says. Types of restitution include anything from' returning stolen items, to offering work ta repay the victim and’ Community service hours. News In Brief Police seek robbery suspect information POLICE are hoping the public may be able to help identify a woman who tried to rob a local restaur- ant recently. The woman, described only as being tall, thin and in her thirties, went into. the Chop Suey Gar- dens in Terrace and demanded that the cash regis- ter be opened, police say: When she didnot get any. money she left the restaurant. The incident happened just before 7 p.m. Nov, [0, No patrons. were in the restaurant at ihe time, police.said. .. Anyone with information ‘about this attempted robbery is asked to call Cust. Bill Casault at 638~- 7400 or make an anonymous tip to the Crimestop- pers phone line at 635-8477, PACs get gaming money PARENT ADVISORY COUNCILS for schools in Terrace, Kitimat and Kitwanga will soon receive some provincial gaming grant money, Skeena MLA Roger Harris announced last week. In all, 14 local PACs will get a share of about $84,000 in charitable casino and lottery gaming re- venues, Harris said. In April, changes to the application process for PACs wanting a share of charitable gaming reve- nues went into effect that sets funding to the num- ber of students in the school. PACs will use the meney to purchase items nee- ded for their schcols. Coal fields analyzed THE COMPANY that bought the Klappan anthra- cite coal fields north of here has hired a company to give it a better handle on the deposits. Marston Canada will convert the existing geolo- gical database into a digital format and prepare a computer block model of one of four deposits owned by Fortune Minerals of Ontario, It will then be used as part of an updated feas- ibility study, Fortune said, Mount Klappan. contains an estimated 2.8 billion tonnes of anthracite rank coal, including 236 mil- lion tonnes in the measured and indicated categor- ies, Fortune says.. Fortune bought the deposits 1 from Conoco Phil- lips last year. November 21st Open Until 11PM