Monday May 22, 2023 | LANGFORD, BC
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
Damage from spray-painting at Starlight Stadium on January 5, 2023 by two teen boys has concluded with a restorative justice forum.
“Two male youth suspects were caught on camera spray-painting graffiti at the Starlight Stadium located at 1089 Langford Parkway,” says West Shore RCMP.
“At the time, West Shore RCMP published a media release seeking the public’s assistance in identifying the youth. With the community’s help, the pair were identified as residents of Langford ages 15 and 16 years old.
The investigation revealed they were also connected to two other sites of graffiti vandalism that took place at Kitty Lequesne Park and Leigh Place Park, says RCMP.
“Given the age of the accused, police opted to divert the youth to the Restorative Justice Program,” says Nancy Saggar, Media Relations, West Shore RCMP, in a followup new release on May 16.
West Shore Restorative Justice is a program facilitated by volunteers with the West Shore RCMP. The primary mandate of the program is to facilitate Community Justice Forums where the accused take ownership of their actions and agree to reparations thereby diverting offenders away from criminal courts.
The youth participated in a Restorative Justice Forum in which all affected parties came together to discuss the impact of their actions. Langford Bylaw Enforcement, West Shore RCMP Cst. Moore, the youth and their guardians all participated in the Forum facilitated by West Shore Restorative Justice where the following reparation agreement was made:
- The youth took accountability for their behaviour, formally apologising to all parties affected;
- They wrote essays on the impact of hateful graffiti and what they learned from this incident;
- Each of the youth were issued $1,500 in fines ($500 per vandalism site), by the City of Langford Bylaws, these fines were reduced to $750 after the youth agreed to 20 hours each of volunteer community service.
An apology letter from one of the accused youth included acknowledgement of the disturbance including the cost to clean it up.
As of May 14 the two youth have completed their community service and their Restorative Justice Forum was a success, as stated by West Shore RCMP.
“Restorative Justice is a valuable program that teaches offenders to take accountability for their actions. Community service hours are a way for offenders to heal their relationship with businesses and victims as offenders are tasked with serving the same community their crime impacted,” said West Shore Restorative Justice Coordinator Randie Johal.
RCMP File # 2023-337
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Island Social Trends reports on news through a socioeconomic lens. Reporting in the west shore region of south Vancouver Island since 2008 (MapleLine Magazine 2008-2010, Sooke Voice News 2011-2013, West Shore Voice News 2014-2020, Island Social Trends 2020 to present).
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Editor for all publications in this series: Mary P Brooke.