Seelall Persaud heads new Restorative Justice Centre

…as soft approach being taken to tackle crime

In a move to use a softer approach in order to curb the high prevalence of serious and violent crimes, the Guyana Government has introduced the Restorative Justice Centre, and it will be headed by retired Police Commissioner Seelall Persaud.
The Restorative Justice Centre, which was launched on Wednesday, will be working with perpetrators and victims of minor crimes with the aim of resolving interpersonal conflicts, thus keeping them out of the prison system.

The Guyana Government passed the Restorative Justice Bill in November 2022 to pave the way for the use of restorative justice in the local criminal justice system. Guyana is now leading the Caribbean region with the introduction of a restorative justice programme.
At launch of the centre on Wednesday, Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall, SC, pointed out that traditional methods of penal sanctions – punitive and retributive – have failed to tackle the level of crimes that are infesting societies, not only in Guyana, but the Caribbean region. Hence, the need for a new approach using a rehabilitative component, that is, restorative justice.
“[Restorative Justice] by law, shall only apply to non-violent offences and minor offences – offences that carry a term of imprisonment of three years and below… It brings the victim and the perpetrator together, and it tries to repair that relationship… Once human relations strained can be repaired, then that goes a far way in ensuring cordial relations.

“So, this brings together the victim and the perpetrator, and allows for apologies to take place; allows compensation to be paid; and allows other forms of amends consensually worked out between the perpetrator and the victim through a facilitator [from the Restorative Justice Centre],” he posited.
According to Nandlall, this approach depends largely on societal participation.
Consequently, the Ministry of Legal Affairs, over the past two years, has been working with other stakeholders to train various community leaders across the country on restorative justice practices. These include teachers, religious leaders, and community leaders such as Toshaos.
Nandlall added that Restorative Justice also goes beyond interpersonal relationships and focuses on a preventative approach as well. The aim is to reduce the prison population by targeting recidivism.
“It seeks to examine the underlying factors that resulted in the violent criminal or delinquent conduct, and it seeks to address that underlying problem… Restorative Justice allows us to go into homes and toxic environments and identify the source of the toxicity and root it out once and for all,” the Minister stressed.
As Director of the Restorative Justice Centre, Persaud will be rolling out the pilot project on the East Coast of Demerara in areas between Buxton, Mon Repos and Annandale, before the programme is introduced at a national level.
He expressed optimism that this initiative would have a transformative impact in tackling crimes within communities across Guyana.
“These engagements will allow for the spread of compassion and love. Spreading compassion and love is the essence of being human, hence my optimism [for the success of the restorative justice programme],” the former Top Cop stated.
He will be operating out of a temporary office located in the compound of the Region Four Regional Democratic Council (RDC) at Triumph, in order to be close to the communities that will be targeted by the one-year pilot project.
According to Persaud, the first order of business is to engage the leaders from these communities, who were trained over the past two years. He explained that those persons will have to undergo additional training exercises to better understand restorative justice and their role in this process.
Wednesday’s launch was also attended by Home Affairs Minister Robeson Benn and Minister of Human Services and Social Security, Dr Vindhya Persaud, both of whom talked about the importance of this softer approach in tackling crime.
Meanwhile, Peace and Development Specialist at the United Nations Office in Guyana, Janet Murdock, reaffirmed her agency’s continued support for restorative justice efforts in the country.
The restorative justice initiative is funded by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) through its Support for the Criminal Justice System (SCJC) Programme, which seeks to strengthen the justice system in the country and reduce the local prison population through alternative sentencing.
In Budget 2023, the Guyana Government allocated $6.2 billion for the enhancement of the justice sector. This is added to the $4.4 billion spent on this initiative last year. (G8)