CASE STUDIES
Restorative Justice
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Author of case study: Marcela Torres Molano
Geopolitical location of space:
19 Dimboola Rd
Broadmeadows, Victoria
Australia
Extant? Yes
In use as a museum since 2002.
The Broadmeadows Koori Court follows the Victorian Koori County model (alternative Indigenous justice practice). In a Koori Court everyone sits around an oval table to encourage direct communication. The Elders and Respected Persons have their say. This is done to create a less threatening environment.
The Koori Indigenous model is used in this space. It is one of Australia’s alternative justice systems for Indigenous people. It is considered to be under the Restorative Justice concept. Reparation of harm and more active involvement of victims in the process are among their goals.
The Broadmeadows Koori Court is part of an alternative justice system for Koori people. The Koori system was set up because of the large numbers of Koori people in the criminal justice system. The aim is to create a more culturally appropriate justice process that involves Elders and other Respected Persons from the community.
Yes, the arrangement of the space is designed for safe listening, a more informal and less threatening environment.
Two type of audiences:
1. The Children’s Koori Court is for young offenders who:
2. Broadmeadows Koori Court is for adults offenders who:
Broadmeadows Koori Court is a public court of the Victoria State.
1. Children’s Koori Court:
Architect: Ireland Brown Constructions (IBC)
Client: Department of Justice, Victoria
Area: approximately 1400m2 (two levels)
Completed: 2015
The new Children’s Koori Court was an extension of the main Magistrates court building. It involved the construction of an adjacent new court house with 2 courtrooms, meeting rooms, office space, and a new combined entry foyer for the Magistrates and Children’s Court.
The design included:
The building included glazed brickwork, bluestone paving and cladding, polished precast panels, glazing and timber paneling.
2. Adults Koori Court in Broadmeadows:
“Remodelled courtroom with an oval table, 3 flags (Australian, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander), Indigenous paintings and noticeboard” (Australian Institute of Criminology, 2004).
The Koori Court is a culturally appropriate, sensitive space for Koori justice. The room includes Aboriginal art elements on the walls and the table. One of the main elements for Koori justice procedures is having an oval bar table at the centre of the space that allows direct communication and the “circle sentencing” method.
For this specific space, a special table was constructed in 2018, using recycled yellow stringybark, and a boomerang shape featured in its centre.The Koori courtroom follows the Nunga Court model — oval table, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art and symbols, one or two Elders accompanying the Magistrate — rather than the Circle Court model, which is usually held in a venue of cultural significance, and usually involving victims (Youth Koori Court Review, 2005).
Family, friends and service providers who know the young person, researchers, journalists, Department of Justice staff, and other observers might sit at the back of the courtroom. These seats might also be occupied by prison escorts for people who are in custody (Youth Koori Court Review, 2005).
Male offenders account for around three quarters of all the accused (77%).
The stakeholders involved in this alternative justice system are:
Koori courtrooms are working for inclusion and access for Aboriginal community court processes. The Koori system first began in 2002, in the Victorian Magistrates Court. It was developed in consultation with Aboriginal communities as a response to the first Royal Commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody.
These courts ensure offenders are sentenced in more culturally appropriate spaces, and allow them to discuss the underlying issues that contributed to their behaviour. “The courts allow offenders to have a say, better engage with the process and reduce those feelings of alienation and intimidation experienced by many Koori offenders, especially young people” (Geelong Advertiser, 2016).
Aboriginal Elders and Respected Persons play a prominent role in the court process, providing cultural advice to the Magistrate. The Magistrate still sentences the offender in accordance with the same requirements that apply in mainstream courts. The Koori courts in Victoria state employ 80 Elders and Respected Persons, and 16 full-time and part-time staff.
The Youth Koori Court space:
The Children’s Koori Court is a section of the Children’s Court for young Aboriginal people who have been charged with a criminal offence and must be willing to go to court and talk openly about their behaviour. The person must not be charged with a sexual offence. The Children’s Koori Court is based on the principles of respect and responsibility.
The Koori courtroom is rearranged for Youth Koori Court meetings with all participants seated around the oval table. Paintings on permanent loan to the Youth Koori Court by young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island artists are hung on the walls. These are set up and de-installed by court officers or the Aboriginal Liaison Officer.
“At the start of a session, the police prosecutor, the young person, the young person’s legal supports, their family and/or community supports, and service providers wait around the oval table. Youth Koori Court is called into order and the participants all stand as the Magistrate and the Youth Koori Court Elders walk in and cross the courtroom to stand behind their own chairs at the bar table. The participants bow and they all take their seats” (Children’s Court of Victoria).
is an author, speaker, columnist, and podcaster in the fields of architecture and decorative arts. She is completing her MA in Art History at Concordia University, Montréal, and holds a Bachelor of Commerce with a major in Marketing from John Molson School of Business. She studied Industrial Psychology in Los Angeles, California. Sicotte is the author of two published books on design (2015, 2018) published by Les Éditions Cardinal.
is a Colombian PhD candidate in the Department of Art History at Concordia University. She has a background in architectural design and community activism and holds a master’s degree in Building and Urban Design from the Bartlett School of Architecture in London, England. Her interests focus on socially-engaged art, social movements, collaborative activism in post-conflict scenarios, collectively-produced art, and art produced in relation to the built environment.
is a PhD candidate in Humanities at Concordia University. His research focuses on spatial agency, social aesthetics, youth narratives, and graphic representations of urban memory. He has published on the relationship between children, play, and public space in Cartagena, Colombia. He has also worked as an editor on literary projects, including Territorio Fértil, which received the María Nelly Murillo Hinestroza award for Afro-Colombian literature.
is Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Architectures of Spatial Justice (Tier 2) at the Peter Guo-hua Fu School of Architecture at McGill University, Montréal, Québec, Canada. Her research interests include low-income housing and participatory design, civil protest and urban design, and campus landscapes and race. Her publications include the co-edited book, Orienting Istanbul (2010) and solo-authored book, Istanbul Open City (2018).
is an artist and a professor of Art History at Concordia University. Her work focuses on women and the history of the built environment, urban landscapes, research-creation, and oral history. She has published on the spatial history of the suffrage movement, public art, gardens, and the politics of urban change. In addition to her research on the spaces of restorative and transitional justice, she is leading an oral history project on the urban memories of diverse Montrealers.
is Associate Professor in the Department of Theatre at Concordia University, Montreal (Quebec, Canada). He is also the second co-director of Concordia’s Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling. His latest publications explore listening in the context of post-conflict performances of memory. For instance, see ‘Facilitating voicing and listening in the context of post-conflict performances of memory. The Colombian scenario.’ In: De Nardi, S., Orange, H., et al. Routledge Handbook of Memoryscapes. Routledge: London. (2019), and his article ‘Not being able to speak is torture: performing listening to painful narratives’. International Journal of Transitional Justice, Special Issue Creative Approaches to Transitional Justice: Contributions of Arts and Culture. (March, 2020)
