Thinking of life differently
Katharine Ramgopal, known as Kit to her friends, is 16 years old. She’s also an attorney in one of New York State’s youth courts. Based on the ideal of restorative justice, the courts deal with juvenile offenders between the ages of around 14 -18 who’ve been tried and found guilty. An 18 year old judge, a jury of their peers and opposing teams of teenage lawyers hold each ‘respondent’ accountable, doling out hours of community service, essays and letters of apology, educational workshops, counselling, curfews and even jury duty as sentences.
Exactly which one is determined by the seriousness of the crime. Kit has a personal favourite – whenever she can, she slips in a jail tour. Prisoners know when to expect their young guests and they make the visit a memorable one – they’ll fling themselves at the bars, hurling abuse and whatever object is handy. Kit remembers finding it terrifying but effective. No one wants to end up here and Youth courts are one step toward making sure fewer young people do.
In an article she authored for the site Groundviews, Kit sets out to capture what embracing the concept of restorative justice could mean for a country like Sri Lanka. ‘Sri Lanka’s cultural and ethnic intricacies are not embodied in any code of law, yet are so prevalent as motivations and settings in crime that they render the current justice system incompetent in a myriad of cases,’ she notes, going on to conclude that if implemented thoughtfully, restorative justice could play a key role in ‘fostering long-lasting peace and a prosperous state.’
Kit and her family are vacationing in Colombo and when we meet she tells me she’s been enjoying a brief internship at the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA). The team at CPA invited her to participate in producing a brief for the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). It was an interesting experience for Kit whose family connections have instilled an enduring interest in Sri Lanka. (She recently submitted a paper on the post-war situation in the country as the conclusion to her world history classes in school.) Add to this that she’s fresh off a few weeks sampling the courses at Georgetown Law and you wouldn’t be wrong to assume she’s considering a career as a lawyer. However, what Kit really wants to do is write. She’s toying with the idea of becoming a journalist, and puts me through a light interview that hints at what a formidable prosecutor she could be.
Kit got into youth court fresh off a mock trial program, which explained her rapid progress from jury to prosecuting attorney. Not always as confident as she is now, she would hide behind the others on her team, asking them to read her opening and closing statements for her. Inevitably though, she was forced to step up. She learned to deliver her own arguments, to respond to rebuttals and to stand behind her opinions. “Youth court is something that makes you think not only about the cases but life itself differently,” she says admitting it has made her more thoughtful, aware and politically inclined. “When you’re in youth court and you’re trying people your age, you see actions differently.”
Kit’s testimony paints youth court as a very positive force in the community. Restorative justice, it turns out is not just gentler, it can be more effective than retributive justice. Kit is articulate on the subject. Explaining that youth courts are recognised by the state as an official court of law and are integrated into the New York State’s legal system, she says the cases they deal with are relatively minor offences – theft is the most common crime, followed by vandalism, alcohol and disorderly conduct. In determining the sentence, a jury must consider first who the victims of the crimes were and how the respondent can make appropriate amends. The youth courts serve her entire community in South Hampton and Kit acknowledges the challenges of coming face to face with someone she knows. However, respondents are treated as minors and their privacy is determinedly protected.
“Restorative justice is a theory that holds that there are no victimless crimes,” says Kit, pointing out that this system considers not just the community but also the family as victims of the crime. The question is to what degree. Whatever the verdict, statistics reveal that only 5% of respondents who pass through a youth court are likely to be tried for another crime; while youth offenders tried, sentenced and institutionalised through more conventional trials are dramatically more likely to recidivate.
Kit has acted as both the prosecution and the defence for seven cases and will likely one day become a judge. Kit, very careful about what details she reveals, is also one of the group dubbed ‘natural helpers’ in her school –aka those children and teachers chosen by the students as people they would most likely turn to in a time of need. An all-round “club junkie” she plays soccer for her school and is a member of various art clubs.
She says growing up in such a small, engaged community has inspired her to see what she can give back. “I like talking to people and helping people,” she says. In doing so, she and others like her are changing their communities for the better, contributing in ways that will be felt across generations.