Transcending

-- Are victims of crime destined to have the rest of their lives shaped by the crimes they've experienced? ("What happened to the road map for living the rest of my life?" asks a woman whose mother was murdered.)
-- Will victims of crime always be bystanders in the justice system? ("We're having a problem forgiving the judge and the system, " says the father of a young man killed in prison.)
-- Is it possible for anyone to transcend such a comprehensively destructive, identity-altering occurrence? ("I thought, I'm going to run until I'm not angry anymore, " expresses a woman who was assaulted.)

Howard Zehr presents the portraits and the courageous stories of 39 victims of violent crime in Transcending: Reflections of Crime Victims. Many of these people were twice-wounded: once at the hands of an assailant; the second time by the courts, where there is no legal provision for a victim's participation.

"My hope, " says Zehr, "is that this book might hand down a rope to others who have experienced such tragedies and traumas, and that it might allow all wh

Howard Zehr is widely known as “the grandfather of restorative justice.” Since 1996 he has been Professor of Restorative Justice at the Center for Justice & Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University, Harrisonburg, VA, an international graduate program for justice and peacebuilding practitioners. Howard has published several other portrait/interview books including Doing Life: Reflections of Men and Women Serving Life Sentences and Transcending: Reflections of Crime Victims (both with Good Books). He has authored numerous other books and publications; best known are The Little Book of Restorative Justice (Good Books) and Changing Lenses: A New Focus for Crime and Justice. He is a frequent speaker and consultant on justice issues in North America and internationally. Zehr has also worked professionally as a photographer.

About This Book

2

(5)

Howard Zehr

PART I. STORIES AND REFLECTIONS OF CRIME VICTIMS

7

(178)

``All the rungs on a ladder are removed.''

8

(4)

Lynn Shiner

``For so many years, nobody believed me.''

12

(4)

Janet Bakke

``I have to live with the fact that I made that decision.''

16

(4)

Donald Vaughn

``We were not only responsible for our own grief, but for the community's.''

20

(6)

Barbara Ayres

``There's nothing like murder to make you really, really look at yourself.''

25

(1)

``What happened to the road map for living the rest of my life?''

26

(4)

Debra Franke

``You're getting all this support, and one day it's over.''

30

(4)

Pam & Robert Ayers

``Murder is like cancer, the `C-word.' It's taboo.''

34

(4)

Amy Mokricky

``When the trial was over, we had to deal with each other.''

38

(4)

Emma Jo

Herbert Snyder

``I needed to find my way.''

42

(6)

Louise Williams

``It's like destroying the old structure and rebuilding.''

47

(1)

``I needed to decide whether to live or not.''

48

(4)

Kim Muzyka

``People want to define me by my adversity and grief.''

52

(4)

Frank Silovsky

``You don't know how you're going to respond until you're in it.''

56

(4)

Sherri Brunsvold

``I was stuck on April 19, 1995.''

60

(4)

Bud Welch

``I fell into this deep dark hole with no steps.''

64

(4)

Susan Russell

``The jury found him not guilty. I was devastated.''

68

(6)

Ricardo Wiggs

``The light of hope for me is that justice will eventually be done.''

73

(1)

``He has become an obsession with me.''

74

(4)

Deborah Brucker

``Justice is knowing and acting on the truth, and I don't know the whole truth.''

78

(4)

Joseph Preston Baratta

``Was it something I did that contributed to her death?''

82

(4)

Vincent Torres

``It affects you viscerally. You're on the floor with it; you're incapacitated.''

86

(4)

Keith Kemp

``I've had some anger that one of the offenders walked.''

90

(4)

Leland Kent

``All of a sudden you realize you're not in control.''

94

(8)

Juan

Martha Cotera

``We grabbed onto all sorts of things as we were falling. One of these was forgiveness.''

101

(1)

``Range---that's hate with a lot of chili sauce poured on it.''

102

(4)

Charles Nipp

``I couldn't park my angers, my fears.''

106

(6)

James Kostelniuk

``We're having a problem forgiving the judge and the system.''

112

(4)

Conrad Moore

``We were falling into a dark abyss, frantic to find footholds.''

116

(6)

Wilma Derksen

``Shaking hands with Charles ... that's the hand that held the gun that murdered my son.''

121

(1)

``Every time my life was getting back in order, he would appear on TV.''

122

(4)

Paula Kurland

``It's like a twister coming through your house.''

126

(4)

Joanne Vogt

``I couldn't seem to feel good about myself.''

130

(4)

Diane Magnuson

``You're always kind of looking over your shoulder.''

134

(4)

Sandy Houtz

``I would wake up every morning thinking, `I hope he dies today.'''

138

(4)

Thomas Ann Hines

``It was either I kill myself, or I feel something.''

142

(6)

Bion Dolman

``It's like a jigsaw puzzle where there's more than one way to put the pieces together.''

147

(1)

``I thought, I'm going to run until I'm not angry anymore.''

148

(6)

Penny Beerntsen

``The real Sandy was full of shame and hate and fear of rejection.''

154

(4)

Sandra Murphy

``My life is different in so many ways.''

158

(4)

Jacqueline M. Millar

``I could see my hands going around his throat, killing him.''

162

(4)

John Sage

``I was angry and came in contact with many angry people.''

166

(2)

Patricia Roberts-Gates

``You have all these little numbers, but none of them work.''

168

(6)

Ellen Halbert

``It was my fault and I'm no good. I've been tainted.''

174

(6)

Gayle Macnab

``What are you trying to tell me? What am I missing?''

180

(5)

Elizabeth Jackson

PART II. LOOKING FOR THE BURMA SHAVE SIGNS: VICTIMIZATION AND THE OBLIGATIONS OF JUSTICE

185

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Howard Zehr

National Resource Organizations for Victim Issues

199

(1)

Acknowledgments

200

(1)

About the Photography

201

(1)

How to Order This Book in Quantities

201

(1)

About the Author and Photographer

202

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Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials