Can Forgiveness Play a Role in Criminal Justice?
Paul Tullis at The New York Times examines the case of Conor McBride, a man who shot his girlfriend of three years, and its implications for the criminal justice system. Rather than attempting to punish McBride through the legal system, the victim’s family, the Grosmaires, instead turned to “restorative justice,” which focuses on dialogue and the needs of the victims and the offenders. Tullis writes, “As much as the Grosmaires say that forgiveness helped them, so, too, has the story of their forgiveness. They’ve spoken about it to church groups and prayer breakfasts around Tallahassee and plan to do more talks.”