This commentary is by Melinda Moulton, a resident of Huntington.
On an unseasonably warm winter day, Jessie (not her real name) left her early morning job at a local nursing home and headed to school. She was a little late, so she was anxious.
As she headed down a steep road about to arrive at her school, she noticed blue lights flashing and heard the loud burst of the horn that alerted her to pull over. She was told she was speeding and given a ticket.
When she mentioned to the officer the possibility of restorative justice for her infraction she was ignored, and he just looked at her and said nothing. The speed limit on that road decreases from 35 mph to 25 mph as cars approach the school. Jesse was going 53 mph.
That night, Jessie stuffed a $250 check into the ticket envelope and mailed it to the Vermont Judicial Bureau in White River Junction. She took full responsibility and dutifully checked the box thereby accepting the charge.
The next day, Jessie reached out to the local police department and the specific officer by email and followed up by phone to see if she could get into a restorative justice program. Jesse was eager to face her infringement, meet with the officer, and embark on a restorative program that would reduce the five points on her license.
Jessie’s request to do a restorative program was ignored because she did what she thought she should do: Step up and accept the ticket and pay the fine. If she had contested the ticket, she could have done the restorative program. This makes absolutely no sense.
Restorative Justice for Jesse and all Vermont’s driving students who are charged with a driving infraction makes perfect sense. The program could include submitting a report to the officer about the infraction, creating an art project, performing a valuable community service, writing an op-ed for the student paper, and certainly attending a safe driving course.
To be perfectly honest, and I think Jessie would agree, students who are speeding should be pulled over, given a ticket, fined, and receive points. But our young drivers also deserve an opportunity to enter a restorative justice program regardless of whether they check the box and send in the fine.
A restorative program will teach and support our students and help them to become more responsible drivers. For students who go through the program, a reduction in points and/or the fee should be considered.
Jessie was not offered this opportunity. She sent in the check, accepted the charge, and because of that, she was denied participation in a restorative justice program that she so passionately wanted to do. Jesse tried on several occasions over the next month to reach out to the ticketing officer but to no avail.
Today, Jesse sees the police car often when she arrives and leaves school. She told me a lot of her friends have been pulled over at that spot, and I would guess this might happen throughout Vermont near our local high schools. Jesse feels anxious and uncomfortable when she sees the officer in his car, and she does not want to feel this way. She supports law and order and believes in the power of restorative justice as an alternative to punishment.
Jesse accepted the fact that she was speeding. She understands that she should have obeyed the speed limit. She was completely cooperative and respectful, but the encounter made her feel unheard, disrespected, and diminished because she did not have the opportunity to restore any semblance of accountability that would have allowed her to learn, grow, and embrace her actions as having consequences beyond just paying money and receiving points.
Jesse is a straight-A student, a class leader, an intern at a local nonprofit, a volunteer at a nursing home, topnotch athlete, and well-liked by students and teachers alike. She is a model citizen.
Yet, I heard in her voice and saw in her body language as she was sharing her story with me that there was fear, intimidation, anxiety, shame, and an inability to understand why the system would not collaborate with her. She was looking to enter a program of acknowledgement and personal growth, and she was denied.
Restorative Justice should be the go-to for all our Vermont students who receive speeding tickets. They learn little by paying a fine, getting points, and just moving on. Restorative Justice would provide our students behind the wheel of a car: individual personal responsibility, an in-depth understanding of their actions, and valuable knowledge so they can be better drivers. We must give them that opportunity and change the system to make restorative justice a standard statewide program for all our Vermont student drivers who receive driving citations.