EFRJ member Dalia Tauber is organising the film screening of ‘A Conversation’ in Bar Illan University in Tel Aviv, Israel, on 22 November. Invitations are sent to RJ practitioners and academics; the screening will be followed by a discussion.
The event is one among many others taking place on the occasion of the international #RJWeek.
Please contact Dalia for more info: [email protected]
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News after the event:
The event was organized in cooperation with Prof. Uri Yanay from the School of Social Work and Social Welfare at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. It was hosted by the Department of Criminology at Bar-Illan University, by Prof. Nati Ronel and Prof. Uri Timor, with the participation of the Mosaica Center for Conflict Resolution. 43 people attended at the screening, including academics and students of social work, criminology and law. Also participated jurists, mediators, and restorative justice practitioners .
During the discussion following the screening, participants noted that the film raises many broad issues, and that the discussion can be led in many different directions. However, the room chose to focus on issues related to the management of restorative justice processes. The questions that were raised concerned the severity of the offense and whether it is right to have a restorative conversation in such severe cases. Questions were raised regarding the part of victims’ and perpetrators’ family members as secondary victims, their right to have their voices heard and their needs met, and the extent of their responsibility for not preventing crime. The discussion also referred to the ‘modus operandi’ of the encounter, the question of whether such an open directive allows the discussion to go places that are not relevant, or perhaps it is discussing all those issues that are ostensibly unrelated to the offense but rather deal with broad and fundamental social issues that contributes to the ability to move on.
During the discussion, one of the participants shared a personal story. She said “those parents are me!” and told us that she herself is the mother of a 19-year-old girl who was murdered by a mentally ill person who decided to murder soldiers in uniform. Unfortunately for her daughter, she found herself at the bus station where the murderer was, and that misfortune cost her life. This bereaved mother identified very strongly with the feelings of Derek and Barbara as presented in the film. She shared with us that she herself had no interest in meeting her daughter’s murderer. She does not want to hear an apology from him and does not want to know anything about him. However, she can accept and respect the fact that some people may find such a meeting helpful. Se had a meaningful contribution to the discussion.
Following the screening of the film, I received a number of requests from people interested in watching a full film again, and others who could not participate in the screening.
