Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Calendar of Events

Last Week 1/24: Jim Murphy - “Restorative Justice.”

This Week 1/31: Mary Anderson - “Trip to Nicaragua”

Next Week 2/7: James Jamison – “Restoration of the NYS Capitol”

Coming Up:

2/14 Annual Dinner at SCCC

2/28 BOD Meeting at 5PM

Invocation: Garry Morrow, Dan Stec or Bob Youmans

Suggestions for future programs may be given to Linda LeTendre

Prominent Rotarians, Past and Present

Albert Schweitzer, physician, philosopher, and Nobel

Prize laureate in peace, Gabon (RC Colmar, France

and RC Passau, Germany)

Donna Shalala, secretary, Health and Human Services,

USA (RC Madison, Wisc. and RC Coral Gables, Fla.)

Neil Armstrong, astronaut and first man to walk on

the moon, USA (RC Wapakoneta, Ohio)

Dr. Charles H. Mayo, co-founder, Mayo Clinic, USA

(RC Rochester, Minn.)

Adlai E. Stevenson, ambassador to the United Nations

and governor of Illinois, USA (RC Springfield, Ill.)

Margaret Thatcher, prime minister, England

(RC Westminster East, Greater London)

Charles R. Walgreen Jr., chairman of the Walgreen

Drug Co., USA (RC Chicago, Ill.)

Announcements

• Mary Anderson, who was Floyd Baker’s next door neighbor, presented a certificate to Floyd’s grandson, Jordan Baugh,

citing the club’s donation of $1,000+ to CHS in memory of Floyd’s many good works in the community.

CHS will apply the money toward the purchase of their new senior transportation van, a program Floyd avidly supported.

• President Rey announced that the Board of Directors had authorized an increase in the Mel Bartlett scholarship award from $150 to $200.

Rey is also sending a condolence card on behalf of former member Jim Burnett, who died recently in Menominee, Wisconsin.

“Crime Destroys, Justice Makes Whole” – Jim Murphy

Jim Murphy, our speaker last week, said the slogan in the headline above has a Mennonite religious community origin and captures the spirit of restorative justice, his topic for the evening. Jim is the president of the Law, Order, and Justice (LOJ) Center of Schenectady and a former Schenectady County Legislator. It is Jim’s view that we are used to criminal justice policies that stress retribution as the way to deal with offenders, measuring success by the numbers of convictions and the length of jail terms. He maintains that restorative justice is a more effective holistic approach that holds offenders responsible for their behavior while also paying attention to the needs of the victim and the community.

Mr. Murphy said that restorative justice is based on four primary tenets: accountability, community protection, competency development, and balance. Key assumptions are that all parties should be included in the response to crime including the offender, the community, and the victims if they wish. Accountability is based upon accepting responsibility and repairing the harm done.

Jim asserts that any community has to protect itself and the best way to achieve this goal is to hold criminals responsible. He maintains that “locking people up and throwing the key away”, a phrase that he believes can be applied to many legislative efforts at achieving justice, is often neither restorative nor cost effective. He offers Canada’s national prison system as an example of a restorative justice system that gets better results and is more cost effective than New York’s.

Canada has 30 millions citizens of whom 25,000 are in jail; New York State has 20 million citizens, 65,000 of whom are incarcerated. Canada contracts with private organizations to provide restorative justice throughout the nation. Support and assistance are provided to victims by community volunteers, faith communities, and agencies. Restitution is given priority over other financial obligations of the offender. Treatment programs include components dealing with addictions, victim empathy, and responsibility as a community member. Community members are involved in advisory boards that guide the courts and corrections. Business and community organizations work with offenders to reintegrate them into the community as offenders fulfill their obligations.

Mr. Murphy believes support for restorative justice will grow from a coalition of social liberals and fiscal conservatives. The Albany County district attorney has already established an accountability board and his counterpart in Schenectady County has asked LOJ to develop a similar board. Judge Mike Eidens established a juvenile drug court in Schenectady, and his successor, Judge Karen Drago, has continued this much-acclaimed program. Jim, himself, has served as an evaluator for such courts in other parts of the state, and is clearly devoted to the cause of restorative justice.

Serve with us – the world is waiting

Jim Murphy spoke on Restorative Justice. Ron Serapilio presented the “Cup”

Mary Anderson with Floyd’s grandson, Jordan Baugh