Restorative Justice Conference: “Grief Is Inevitable; Misery Is Optional”

There is no way the legal system – or anyone else — can undo the terrible wounds left on people who have had a loved one murdered. But can the system or those involved in different aspects of it help survivors of a murder victim go forward in leading their lives?

That was the underlying question at the remarkable and emotionally intense 2013 Restorative Justice Conference held last week at Marquette Law School’s Eckstein Hall. “The Death Penalty Versus Life Without Parole: Comparing the Healing Impact on Victims’ Families and the Community” brought together about 200 people from Wisconsin and much of the country to examine the post-murder lives of family members.

But among the many speakers, six stood out – because, as survivors of victims, they personally had gone through the grieving and dealt with the legal system and so many other problems. Three from Texas, two from Minnesota, and one from the Milwaukee area told their searing stories in a pair of panel discussions on Friday morning, the second day of the conference.

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Residency Requirements and the Sense of Community

Ray Papke, my late father, was a maintenance man for Milwaukee Public Schools and proud of it. He had no quarrel with the requirement that City of Milwaukee employees live within the City. He was born in Milwaukee, worked for Milwaukee, and pleased to live in Milwaukee.

Were he alive today, Ray Papke would have opposed Governor Scott Walker’s proposed elimination of residency requirements for City employees, but I can’t imagine him voicing the common arguments against the proposal. To wit, (1) Property values in the city will fall, (2) The City’s racial and ethnic diversity will decline, and (3) People are more effective working for others if they know and live with them.

No, Ray Papke’s position was one based on a more fundamental sense of community, one that literally had a geographic foundation. He lived and worked for this town in this place. This view of social life is of course missing in the Governor’s vision of free-floating individuals who should be able to live wherever they want. It’s also missing in the arguments of the Governor’s opponents, arguments primarily couched with reference to socio-economic concerns and workers’ efficiency.

I fear that the vision of community held dear by Ray Papke was buried along with him and his generation of honest, patriotic, blue-collar Americans. We cannot relive the past, but these Americans were in touch with something that added depth and meaning to their lives.

 

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20th Annual Howard B. Eisenberg Do-Gooders’ Auction–An Interview with PILS Fellow Mindy Nolan

The 20th Annual Howard B. Eisenberg Do-Gooders’ Auction on behalf of the Law School’s Public Interest Law Society (PILS) will be held this Friday, February 15, 2013 at the Law School. Proceeds from the event go to support PILS Fellowships to enable Marquette law students to do public interest work in the summer. Mindy Nolan, a current law student, shares her experience here as a PILS Fellow.  Besides her work as a PILS Fellow, Mindy did outstanding work in soliciting and compiling donations for this year’s auction.

Where did you work as a PILS Fellow?

This past summer I served as a law intern at the Wisconsin State Public Defender’s Office in Rhinelander, Wisconsin.

What kind of work did you do there?

In my role there, I prepared legal memoranda, motions, and conducted research for the four Assistant State Public Defenders working in that office. I conducted client and witness interviews over the phone and in person at the county jails. I also attended court hearings in three northern Wisconsin counties.

How was the experience meaningful to you?

This experience was extremely meaningful to me for several reasons, in particular the amount that I learned about the everyday workings of the criminal justice system. It was interesting to witness the dynamic of how the criminal justice system interacted with the three Native American tribes that are located in the three counties. It was also meaningful to see how the criminal justice system itself functions in three very small counties where there would sometimes only be one judge, one prosecutor, and one public defender working together day in and day out.

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