Reservation Justice: Truth, Love, and Limits Pt. 2
It was a long sixty mile drive to the Farmington Detention Center with the two young gang members to see their cousin and friend.
I explained to them that, while I was praying for peace and grace for their cousin, his actions had heavy legal consequences for his bad choice.
There was no way any sympathetic jury could help him escape those mandatory sentences we had researched earlier in the Farmington library. Vehicular manslaughter could not be changed into anything less horrible.
Six people died because of their cousin driving drunk. He was on suicide watch in his cell with good reason. A baby, toddlers, his step-father and two aunts died in fiery agony directly due to his actions.
My captive audience exercised the pros and cons of the consequences: would it be Reservation Justice or Anglo Justice?
Reservation Justice means you reserve justice for the really big offences, and even then it’s not so bad. It depends on your mood. Reservation justice had greatly reduced consequences and was spotty and random. The consequences are so erratic the gambling offender is willing to take the risk.
One time on the reservation, criminals were released on their own recognisance when the entire jail was condemned.
No consequences there.
Anglo Teacher or Jailhouse Lawyer
When one gang leader and I were researching his charges of assault and battery, we found he would be years better off with reservation justice.
Anglo Justice held more firm consequences than those under Reservation jurisdiction. Major crimes were investigated by the FBI and mandatory sentencing routinely applied. Whatever did not fall under Federal jurisdiction was administrated by Navajo judges.
The legal jurisdiction battles went on for years afterward for the teen we visited that day who killed six.
My Trial by Fire
As we drove home later that day, my students suggested a short cut. I knew no short cut, but decided to trust them and God.
We took a deserted road which led into sun-bleached barren waste.
A small shack every now and then.
No road signs.
No mile markers.
I was totally lost but strongly felt that I had to take the risk to trust my students, gang members, regardless of my fears, in order to strengthen our bond.
I felt I could read their minds. They were dirt poor. All-weekend partying cost money. What was to prevent them from leaving me behind in a ditch and stealing my car? We were on the reservation now.
Murders on the reservation frequently went unsolved. No Anglo justice would even locate them if they chose to stay hidden. The clan would hide you even if the gang in other cities did not. We all knew that.
It was my mission. If I couldn’t trust them, they couldn’t trust me or my God.
I was praying. “Lord, I know you love idiots and I know I qualify. Please let your will prevail, talk to them and protect me.”
We got home to Shiprock in good time.
My trust in my gang member students to safely deliver us home bonded us in ways taking the safe route would not have.
I had to live by faith and not by sight.
My teaching situation led me to a radical reliance on God. As the disciples told Jesus, what else is there?
Do you always follow through on your rules for your children?
Gamblers consider odds: do you care or not care to impose consequences for every offense?
Children may be small but they are not stupid. They calculate the odds of your discipline follow-through more accurately than a Vegas sports bookie.
If your discipline consequences are erratic your children will become more willing to take the punishment risk. Let’s think about your faith: is it blind and unthinking? How much discipline risk are you willing to take with your children? Are you depending on God when He has assigned the job to you? Are you proactive about your discipline: do you have a plan?
What consequences are real in the minds of your children?
Every criminal considers consequences in his or her past prior to committing crimes in the present.
Do you ever trust your children with the consequences of their poor choices?
Do you let them take carefully calculated risks related to their maturity?
Do you stretch them or do everything for them so they never experience pain?
Discipline requires unmovable consequences and trust gradually built.
Do you explain to your three year old the consequence of hitting his brother and then carry through when he hits? Or do you have Reservation Justice?
Consider Stress Free Discipline. It has consequences easy for you to impose but consistent for every choice, both good and bad.