Restorative justice is not just meant to give crime victims a voice, but involves "fence-moving," according to Marilyn Miller, executive director of the Milwaukee Lutheran Human Relations Association.

Restorative justice is a movement that works to change the way society views victims and criminals and to address misinformation about the criminal justice system, said Miller, who offered an invocation at an event held during International Restorative Justice Week.

The Marquette Law School's Restorative Justice Initiative Program sponsored "Restorative Justice: Victims' Perspectives" Thursday evening in the Varsity Theatre.

Joseph Kearney, dean of the law school, congratulated Janine Geske, distinguished professor of law, for her work in establishing the restorative justice program at Marquette.

Wisconsin Attorney General Peggy Lautenschlager, Milwaukee County District Attorney E. Michael McCann, President and CEO of the International Centre for Healing and the Law David Link and Colleen Jo Winston, Director of the Office of Victim Services & Programs in the Wisconsin Department of Corrections, gave brief remarks at the event.

Restorative justice offers victims the opportunity to "have their voices heard" and to "have their healing processes be recognized as necessary and profitable for the community at large," Lautenschlager said.

McCann said the unique initiative allows victims the chance to "shape the response of the (criminal justice) system."

Crime survivors and keynote speakers Lynn BeBeau, Karen Jones, Gregory Williams and Penny Beerntsen shared their experiences with restorative justice with the audience.

In 1982, BeBeau's husband, a former police officer, was killed in the line of duty, leaving BeBeau widowed and alone with two young children.

"When someone becomes a victim of a crime, their heart is affected," she said. "This changes their head and the way they think."

She said restorative justice aims to give offenders the same experience.

After her husband's murder, BeBeau wanted justice but found injustice instead. She was told that a trial would be "costly" and "time-consuming," and the charges against the offender were dropped during plea-bargaining from first degree and attempted murder to second degree murder.

"I had to resign myself to the fact that there was a judge far greater than any earthly judge," she said.

One evening, BeBeau and her children began to recite the Lord's Prayer, as they often did at bedtime.

When they came to the part about forgiving those who trespass against you, it took on an entirely new meaning for her, she said.

"There are many paths to healing, but for me, it began with forgiveness," she said. "Because of restorative justice, you are looking at a life transformed."

Beerntsen, a survivor of sexual assault, was the last speaker at the event.

She testified against Steven Avery, who was convicted of sexual assault and attempted murder, in 1985. Eighteen years later, DNA testing cleared him of the crime.

"Ladies and gentlemen, that was the most difficult day of my life," she said. "The fact that I was part of such a huge miscarriage of justice was absolutely devastating."

Since Avery's release from prison, he and Beerntsen have had the opportunity to meet.

"I don't think I could have handled the knowledge that I was an offender if I hadn't already been a survivor," Beerntsen said.