BATH

Uncomfortable silence lingered in the room as Daniyil Klimov and Zachary Lambert sat together with about 20 community and family members during a restorative justice circle that took place at Grace Episcopal Church in Bath on Aug. 20.

As the session began, Klimov was handed a gnarled, wooden stick — a “talking piece” that gave him the floor — and he admitted to being nervous.

In early December, Klimov and Lambert, both in their early 20s, were arrested and charged with burglary and criminal mischief for the vandalism that occurred at Huse School, a former elementary school building owned by the city of Bath.

Both offenders admitted they were fairly inebriated at the time of the incident on Oct. 30.

The session was organized by the Restorative Justice Project of the Midcoast, a nonprofit organization in Belfast that provides opportunities for juvenile and adult offenders to engage in honest conversation with community members about their crime and wrongdoings.

Nadejda Stancioff, the program’s service coordinator, said the practice brings the offender into a circle with the person or people they have harmed, including family members and community residents, to talk about the incident and arrange an agreement for the offender to complete and repair the harm that was done.

During the session, as the talking piece was passed around, one by one, individuals took turns sharing how the vandalism affected them, while Klimov and Lambert took turns responding and sharing their thoughts with the community.

Klimov and Lambert were also questioned by facilitators, which included Stancioff, about their actions.

“One of the questions is ‘who was affected and how,’ and that really opens it up to show offenders how their actions have a ripple out effect,” Stancioff said. “Yes, it directly affected them and their families, but think about all the other people that had to deal with the incident. And those are the people we want at the circle.”

The offenders were also asked about what they were thinking or feeling at the time of the incident, what they have been thinking or feeling since and what they feel they need to do to make things right.

Stancioff said these questions are at the heart of restorative justice, and rather than alienating offenders from the community, restorative justice helps them reenter it.

“Restorative justice is a way of bringing the people who caused the harm back into the community, asking them to really own up to what they did and repair that harm,” she said. “And it also gives the victim a voice.”

Because the victim of the Huse School vandalism was the city of Bath, Stancioff said the challenge in this particular case was getting together a group of people who accurately represented the city.

Members of the Bath Police Department, the city solicitor, a Bath Housing representative, the city’s facilities manager, family members of both Klimov and Lambert, as well as other community observers were present at the meeting.

“As the offenders go through this process, they’re supported,” Stancioff added. “There’s usually something that causes somebody to offend, and this process is very holistic, so it looks at the big picture and says, ‘we want to hold you accountable for what you did, but in order to do that, we’re going to support you.’”

At the session, a repair agreement was also outlined for both Klimov and Lambert, which includes 176 hours of community service, writing open and private letters of apology, attending city council meetings and meetings with mentors, and remaining sober. The agreement also states that both Klimov and Lambert are required to complete the agreement by August of next year.

Due to the restorative session, Klimov and Lambert’s sentence was delayed until September, though both men could potentially face five years in jail.

Since the incident, Stancioff said both Kilmov and Lambert have been sober and hold jobs within the community to work toward their restitution of $1,700 each for clean up costs and installing surveillance cameras in the Huse building.

Stancioff said the vandalism could have jeopardized the city’s sale of the building to a company that is planning to renovate the school to provide housing apartments, as the damage had amounted to about $20,000.

Klimov and Lambert’s participation in the session could also delay their sentence for year until the repair agreement is completed, or it may give them a reduced sentence, according to Stancioff.

Even without a clear-cut outcome, she said both have expressed a desire to participate in the session because they’re “a part of this community … and this is a chance to show everybody they made a mistake and they own that.”

Through this process, she hoped that the community would see that both men took responsibility for their actions and show their support.

In general, Stancioff hoped that communities would continue to understand and support the process of restorative justice.

“Getting people to understand the process can be a bit challenging too at first, but rewarding, usually, at the end,” she said.

The project

RESTORATIVE JUSTICE Project of the Midcoast is a nonprofit organization in Belfast that provides opportunities for juvenile and adult offenders to engage in honest conversation with community members about their crime and wrongdoings.