The BBC World News Service turned to a world-renowned expert on restorative justice, Dr. of 草莓社区, in asking, 鈥淗ow are people able to forgive a crime like the murder of a loved one?鈥�
For published on Aug. 19, 2013, BBC reporter Naveena Kottoor quoted three sources in the United States: Howard Zehr; Bill Pelke, whose 78-year-old, Sunday-school-teaching grandmother was murdered in her home by four teenage girls; and Linda White, whose 26-year-old-daughter was abducted, raped and killed by two teenage boys.
Pelke and White told their stories of evolving toward releasing bitterness and anger. They chose to develop their ability to feel compassion and even to express forgiveness toward some of the ones who had done these grievous crimes. With the help of trained facilitators, both Pelke and White eventually met two convicted murderers in prison.
鈥淰ictims are often stuck in their experience,鈥� Zehr told the BBC. 鈥淭he meetings enable them to get answers and let go.鈥� Zehr said that doing proper groundwork for the meetings was crucial: 鈥淪uccess depends on the level of preparation on both sides 鈥� sometimes it can take up to a year.鈥�
. The BBC article prompted Newstalk, a national radio broadcast in Ireland to arrange for Zehr to be interviewed later the same week on the , which attracts about 100,000 listeners in its mid-afternoon slot.