Alex Fields is retired – and a part time minister. He regularly preaches forgiveness to his congregation in Durham, North Carolina. But recently he has put his advice into practise in a startling way.
Seven years ago, his beloved brother was stabbed by his nephew. The large, tight-knit Fields family were devastated. Furious with Donald Fields Jr for attacking his father, they met the district attorney’s office and offered a 20-year sentence in prison for murder.
But Durham had recently elected a progressive DA who wanted to encourage the use of restorative justice, which emphasises accountability and reconciliation over punishment. It is not often used in violent cases in the US, let alone in homicide cases.
The Guardian’s US southern bureau chief, Oliver Laughland, reports on an extraordinary, potentially unprecedented case. And reflects on how, in the country with the highest incarceration rate in the world, the Fields family’s decision could offer a glimpse of how a cycle of violence could be broken.
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Photograph: Cornell Watson/The Guardian
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