Keyword Restorative Justice

In the supercharged world of dirt track racing, a single mistake causes the lives of two men to change forever. One must fight for his family, the other must fight to forgive.

This documentary profiles the tiny Ojibway community of Hollow Water on the shores of Lake Winnipeg as they deal with an epidemic of sexual abuse in their midst.

In 1985, Kathleen lost her brother Eddie, an American soldier, at the hands of the Red Army Faction (RAF), a German leftist terrorist organization. Now, decades later, she decides to seek out the group responsible for his murder.

Leonard is serving a life sentence in a Florida prison for the murders of Patricia and Chris. Agnes—the victims’ mother and grandmother—decided to contact him in the hope it would help her heal from this tragedy and give it meaning. As the law didn’t allow her to meet Leonard, she wrote to him instead. Their exchange led them to join in a mutual fight to promote restorative justice—an alternative stance on justice based on prevention and victim/offender dialog. Their struggle echoes those of others families, bringing us to examine what restorative justice means and the hopes it sparks.

This often confronting documentary observes a Māori restorative justice model through the eyes of straight-talking Mike Hinton, manager of Restorative Justice at Manukau Urban Māori Authority. The bringing together of victims (including wider whānau) and offenders may offer an alternate way forward for "a criminal justice system failing too many and costing too much”. Restoring Hope kicked off Māori Television’s 2013 season of Sunday night documentaries. In a Herald On Sunday preview, Sarah Lang argued it was “enough to restore hope in local documentary-making.” I’m in an arena where people have high emotions, they get stressed and pressured. I’m reasonably confident that I can avoid situations where I’ll be unsafe. I don’t have any death wish — I’ve got a game of golf tomorrow. – Mike Hinton, on the dangers of the job