Case Studies and Supporting Materials:

Case Study One- 1st Judicial District, Dakota County - Assault

I received a referral to complete a Family Group Conference on an assault that happened at a junior high school. The offense was a 5th Degree Assault. The reports indicated that John reported that he was sitting at the lunch table with friends when his chair was shoved from behind. He looked back and found Tom staring at him. John asked Tom what the shove was about and Tom proceeded to call John a name and started punching him in the head. School staff intervened and John was brought to the nurses office.

Tom reported that John purposely sat in a fashion that blocked the aisle where he was attempting to dump his lunch tray. Tom told John to move and John refused, so he hit him. Both agreed that they don’t get along and had gotten into a fight a few weeks earlier and were suspended from school. They had also gotten into a fight at the mall and were calling each other names.

I spoke with Tom and his mother who agreed to come to the conference. Tom’s mother acknowledged Tom’s involvement but was minimizing the assault by saying that John was provoking her son. Tom readily admitted his involvement and stated that he could admit to what he did in a conference. I asked him to call me if he wanted a support person besides his mother.

I spoke with John and his family who also readily agreed to come to the conference. John’s mother has spoken with a school official about conferencing and she thought it was a good idea. She brought up the fact that her son had mentioned the fight at the mall. As well, she indicated that at the beginning of the school year, John and Tom were friends and that they had some sort of falling out.

The conference began with Tom admitting to the offense, however denying the effects on others and playing a little like a victim himself. John then talked, assuming some responsibility for the lunchroom incident by saying he should have moved his chair. John’s supporter spoke about the effects on them. And finally, Tom’s mother talked about Tom being new to school and how this was unlike her son. Tom talked about how he and John had been friends and then wasn’t sure what happened, but that one day at the lunch table his seat was taken by someone else. He indicated that it upset him. John said that the reason was because he had been told that Tom was talking behind his back and it make him angry. Tom cleared this up by stating that he didn’t do that and that he thought John was a “cool guy”. The rest of the conference was the participants talking among themselves about what the boys could do to make amends. Tom apologized to John and an agreement to amend their relationship was made. They also talked about how they would deal with their peers in explaining how they had worked the situation out. We closed the conference with everyone feeling better, and the parents talking about calling each other if they hear this coming up again. During the “breaking of the bread”, John’s step-dad asked him if he wanted to play baseball on the team this year, and it was apparent he was reintegrated.

Group Conferencing: Restorative Justice in Practice. Editors: Ann Warner Roberts & Guy Masters, March 15, 1999.

Case Study Two — 1st Judicial District, Dakota County - Assault

A fifth grade boy was charged with assault, the police report indicated he had choked another boy, a second grader. The second grader had gotten off the bus crying, his parents saw the red

marks on his neck, questioned him and called the police. They did not want to confront the boy or parents as they had had an incident happen months prior to this which ended in a very hostile confrontation between the victim’s father and offender’s mother.

Past History

(The boy had ruined some play equipment or so the father thought, which was the second time, and the dad went storming down to confront the mother regarding her little “monster’s” behavior. When he arrived he was very, very angry and started the conversation with accusing the mother of poor parenting skills, apparently called the boy a “flicking monster” and on and on  She, of course, got defensive and told him to get off the property, enlisting her husband from inside to support her with this decision.) When this present incident happened, they each had a preconceived idea, based on the past, of how each was going to react to the other, so instead of attempting to talk to each other, the police were called.

The Meeting

The meeting started with the victim’s story, and the offender’s. The boy had not been choked, but his coat pulled back by the hood which did in fact choke him and left marks , but he was not deliberately choked as we all thought when we heard the words “he was choked”.

The dad of the victim was still very, very angry at the mom and the child. He thinks that she assumes no responsibility for her child, or his actions, and he, of course, perceives of the boy as a “monster”. He was visibly angry, shaking, face beet red, breathing very heavy, and raising his voice. The mom was very defensive, she of course referred to him as this “out of control lunatic”.

As we worked through these feelings, and began looking beyond the actions per se, the real issues began to surface. The boy, victim, had just been adopted by these people. He had been in a very abusive home, his mother was a prostitute who was taking drugs, and his father selling them as well. His father would blow up and go for the mother, the mother would pick the child up and shield herself. When he was beaten enough, he would go down and then she would get it. Once they were both thrown though a picture window. There was foster care after that, when discipline was needed the foster parents would punish the boy by putting his head in the toilet and flushing it, needless to say, not a good foster home! His parents, knowing of all the past abuse, are very protective, not wanting him to suffer more. He is diagnosed as having ADHD and is taking Ritalin. The parents of the offender have been really worried about their kid and have him going to see a psychologist, he has been evaluated for ADHD as well. As this all came out the offender and his parents came to understand their deep concern and reaction. As the victims dad began to see that they understood, that they weren’t totally “monsters” he apologized for his terrible behavior, his use of foul language etc., and understood why the mom would throw him off the property and refuse to talk to him about any future event. They began to see commonalties and talked about these, discussing the ADHD, etc. Asking questions about the abuse and so on...

Group Conferencing: Restorative Justice in Practice. Editors: Ann Warner Roberts & Guy Masters, March 15, 1999. Page 49

The boys were great, the victim says., “I forgive you, I just want to be friends, it’s kind of lonely being by yourself sometimes and having people pick on you’, the Offender then says he’s sorry and says he knows cause people in the neighborhood don’t like him cause they think he is bad.

The victim then asks the offender if he wants to stay over night .... Everybody thought this was a little premature but all were very pleased at the gesture.

The offender then says, ‘you know I’m -sorry for upsetting everybody and making people come here, I was really scared to come tonight, I’d see you go by in the car and would want to wave or say I was sorry but I figured you’d yell at me again because you hated me, now I can see you can be nice

To end we discussed what they each needed to do in the future if there were problems, what each parent needed from the other in order to feel safe and listened to .... They all left saying this approach was better than court, that they thought they could all get along.

I, of course, had goose bumps and was near tears, they all did such a fantastic job, working though that extreme anger finally coming to a place of peace amongst and within themselves.

Group Conferencing: Restorative Justice in Practice. Editors: Ann Warner Roberts & Guy Masters