Jacob Dunn advocates for restorative justice to address violence.
He highlights the need for safe spaces to discuss difficult emotions and the ineffectiveness of shaming.
Transcript:
Speaker 3
The mum and dad, David and Joan of James. And they found the courage and the curiosity, which is something that's been touched on a little bit here, to go, who is Jacob? Why did he do that? Yes, originally they wanted me to spend longer in prison. They petitioned for longer in prison. But what they realised is what their actual needs were was to express the harm that had been caused and to ask me questions that I was the only person that had answers to those questions And I took part in that process and I was able to deal with my shame through a two and a half year process and come out the other side when we now campaign together to raise awareness that One punch can kill to raise awareness that restorative justice is a very good intervention to use to resolve conflict and we should be doing it at a much earlier stage so my question is Is shaming people a useful way of reducing in reducing violence no (Time 0:44:00)
Shame and Violence
Shaming doesn't improve rehabilitation; it diminishes it.
Shame is a driver of violence, so increased shaming is counterproductive.
Transcript:
Gwen Adshead
It's very. Making people feel bad about themselves doesn't improve their chances of rehabilitation. It actually decreases them. And the irony is that we have some excellent work from the States that shows us very clearly that shame is a powerful driver for violence. (Time 0:45:00)
Early Intervention
Laddie Smith suggests a cross-government strategy for evidence-based interventions in high-risk families.
This could help prevent violence through early intervention.
Transcript:
Gwen Adshead
Laddie Smith. I'm president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and I'm also a friend of psychiatrists. We know that people who've experienced four or more adverse childhood experiences are more likely to perpetrate violence. We often know who they are before they're born because of intergenerational transmission of trauma and adversity. Is it time now that there was a cross-government strategy aimed at providing evidence-based interventions for high-risk families if you really want to prevent violence? (Time 0:47:27)
Respectful Treatment
Treat prisoners with respect to foster rehabilitation.
Changing the environment can change behavior.
Transcript:
Gwen Adshead
If you just put people in prison and treat them badly, then nothing very much will change. There was a wonderful quote from a woman who went before the parole board who said, they say that leopards can't change their spots, but they can if you stop treating them as leopards. (Time 0:53:23)
Imprisonment as Punishment
Imprisonment itself is the punishment, not the mistreatment within prison.
Focus on rehabilitation within the context of imprisonment.
Transcript:
Gwen Adshead
Imprisonment is the punishment. OK, but can you be really clear about this? In your opinion, what would be the balance between punishment and rehabilitation? Where is the balance? But it's already been balanced because the punishment is the deprivation of liberty. It's the loss of liberty that's the punishment. People who've been hurt, who've been traumatised, who've been victimised are angry, and they are hurt, and they are rageful, and they are vengeful. And that we can all understand. The difficulty is that making somebody else feel bad is not necessarily going to make that better, and is certainly not going to reduce risk of re-offending. (Time 0:53:54)
