By Omar Millán
TIJUANA — Some personal stories shared around the table were so heart-breaking that listeners began to cry.
At eight tables covered with white linen, 48 people shared their testimony about being incarcerated, or suffering violence, or working with those affected by crime.
“My godfather raped me for 10 years, and my parents did not believe me,” one woman said.
“I lost my three children, my job, my life,” said another person, who had been wrongfully convicted of murder.
They were participants in a dialogue co-sponsored by the Archdiocese of Tijuana and the Diocese of San Diego about restorative justice. It was the first binational dialogue along the U.S.-Mexico border that used a method the San Diego Diocese helped to develop to bring decision-makers in the criminal justice system and people affected by that system together to share their experiences.
The participants included crime victims, formerly incarcerated men and women, penitentiary officials, attorneys, religious women, social workers, priests, psychologists and volunteers.
The seven-hour gathering on Oct. 19 was held in the hall of Our Lady of Mercy Parish, located in the Guaycura colonia in eastern Tijuana.
The goal of restorative justice is to restore relationships that were damaged by crime. The Catholic Church in the United States is a proponent of this approach, with the Diocese of San Diego, under Cardinal Robert W. McElroy, taking a leadership role, working in collaboration with the national Catholic Criminal Justice Reform Network.
The speakers at the Tijuana dialogue explained how the restorative justice process works, and participants explored how it could be implemented in Mexico. Some expressed doubts, however, that it could be done, given that nation’s social, political and economic conditions, and soaring crime rate.
Addressing the participants, Auxiliary Bishop Ramón Bejarano, of the Diocese of San Diego, said that in the current society, justice was based on punishment. This system was not necessarily just because some people had the means to defend themselves while others didn’t, and at times received punishment they did not deserve, he said.
“Restorative justice proposes that the person who committed a crime has to receive a sentence from the judicial system but also, within that sentence, receive profound help so that the person can change his or her life,” he said.
One restorative practice, victim-offender dialogues, encourages a meeting between a crime victim and offender who committed the crime, following talks held separately with each side, he explained. The goal of this meeting is to foster understanding, acceptance and ultimately, forgiveness, opening the door to spiritual healing and mental wellness.
“I believe in all of this,” said Jorge Agapito, a psychologist who said he had worked for 21 years in the state penitentiary of Baja California. “I know that these types of alternatives are needed so that people who leave prison can be reintegrated into society.”
He said that the first thing that was needed was to train people in restorative justice practices, beginning with less serious crimes and then moving to serious ones.
“I’m convinced that we have to work with families on both sides of a crime and see if they agree to come together. Usually, these families see each other as enemies, but both sides are suffering. Both need to be restored,” the psychologist said.
Though the dialogue did not feature meetings between crime victims and offenders, it did demonstrate how those encounters work, using “restorative justice circles,” where people sitting around a table take turns sharing their experiences while the others listen attentively.
The gathering offered stark testimonies of those harmed by crime and how they had found a way to ease their suffering and begin to heal.
“I was in so much pain, felt so much hate,” began one woman, who asked to remain anonymous. “My godfather raped me for 10 years, and my parents did not believe me. I was just a girl and grew up feeling this rage. I got married when I was a teenager because the only thing I wanted was to get out of that house, of that hell. I cried so much that I don’t have any tears left.
“Because of my children, I realized that I should forgive, because if I did not, they would inherit all that rancor. I forgave my tormentor, and I forgave myself. If I didn’t, I really could not live.”
The woman said she has volunteered for 40 years in the prisons in Tijuana and Tecate.
“I was in prison for 14 years, accused of homicide, accused of killing my husband,” said another woman, who also requested anonymity. She spoke with long pauses, constantly staring at the floor, as if her words had fallen there. “I lost my three children, my job, my life, the rest of my family.
“My innocence was later proved, and I was released. I had been used as a scapegoat. But for anyone who knew me, I was guilty. But I also found God. I forgave so I could continue to rebuild my life. I’m in that process.”
A religious woman who serves in jails in Tijuana and Tecate also spoke.
“Many people are innocent in the prisons in this state. Many of them did not have the money to hire a good attorney to help them with their case,” said the religious woman, who asked not to be named. “The judicial system we have is not fair.”
Mexico has nine of the 20 most violent cities in the world, Tijuana among them, according to the independent organization World Population Review. Tijuana registered 138 homicides per 100,000 residents, according to the organization.
In Baja California, 91% of crimes that are committed are not reported nor investigated; and, in 88% of the crimes that are investigated, no one is ever charged, according to México Evalúa, an independent research organization that evaluates the functioning of government at federal, state and local levels.
Baja California is among the top three states in Mexico with the highest populations of incarcerated people, with around 13,800 in 2024, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Geography.
Some representatives of the penal system at the dialogue said that judges and high-ranking politicians should be informed about restorative justice practices.
“We can begin conciliatory dialogues between victims and those who committed a crime,” one said. “If society does not ask for it, we, in the institutions, need to create spaces to bring them together.”
Father Marcos Saavedra, from the prison ministry in the Archdiocese of Tijuana, said the dialogue was “a seed” that the Church hoped to plant along the entire U.S.-Mexico border, with the support of the Diocese of San Diego.
“We don’t want to judge, just listen. We want to have compassion, not just for the victims but also for those who committed a crime, because they, too, deserve it, so they can accept what they did and get better,” the priest said. “It’s not easy, but you have to learn to listen.”
