STP Participant Ross Thompson joined Martin Howard to talk with Steve Austin. “If your son was brutally murdered, could you take on the task of helping to rehabilitate criminals? The Sycamore Tree Project aims to bring victims of crime and perpetrators together in order to help prisoners to understand the impact of their deeds. The Sycamore Tree Project aims to bring victims of crime and perpetrators together in order to help prisoners to understand the impact of their deeds.”

Listen and Download the podcast here

View the key talks from the Jonathan Aitken Events online

Launch Media Player

PFI Youtube Channel

The world’s largest and most extensive criminal justice ministry, Prison Fellowship International (PFI) is a global association of over 100 national Prison Fellowship organisations. Watch the amazing videos from around the world.

9am-4pm Saturday 24^th March

Broadwater Road Uniting Church

481 Broadwater Rd Mansfield Qld 4121

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE

The recent STP pilot has been featured in the Courier Mail Saturday Magazine.

Download Article from Courier Mail Magazine PDF

“A year later, as the van turns onto the Bruce Highway ferrying Queensland’s first group of Sycamore Tree Project volunteers to Woodford, Howard has every reason to smile.

“The project is about restorative justice,” he says. “Instead of the alternative idea which is retributive justice – a crime happens, we find the perpetrator, punish them by putting them in jail and that’s the end of the process.

“That process ignores the fact the crime has a lot of impacts across the community,” Howard says. “It starts with the immediate people involved in the crime. It affects the victim. It affects the victim’s family. It affects the offender. It affects their families and on it goes. Instead of one thing that one person did wrong we look at all of those elements. What impact has it had on the victim’s life? Have there been medical repercussions? Are there practical financial repercussions? How does it affect their relationships?”

It’s a faith-based project, but it’s not preachy. It’s about sharing stories. It’s about empathy. Putting oneself in another’s shoes.”

7am-8.30am Thursday 6^th October 2011

Guest Speaker: Jonathan Aitken (UK). Venue TBC.

For bookings and info: www.goldcoastmayoralprayerbreakfast.org

For more information contact

Prison Fellowship Queensland

qld.office@prisonfellowship.org.au