Edward Wilson Feature Story
Just lives: Master of Liberal Studies graduate practices restorative justice here and abroad
Ramsey County District Court judge Edward Wilson
By Megan Rocker
Going to a war-torn nation to face war criminals, gangsters, and corrupt officials isn’t everyone’s idea of professional development—but for one 2007 Master of Liberal Studies (MLS) graduate, it was an opportunity to study international law first hand.
From December 2002 to December 2003, Ramsey County District Court judge Edward Wilson worked in Prizren, Kosovo, serving as an international judge on cases deemed too sensitive or explosive for local officials—including war crimes, ethnic disputes, and organized crime.
Explains Wilson, “Following the war in Kosovo, the United Nations was trying to help restore order in the region. Eventually, they realized the Kosovo justice system wasn’t being fairly operated.”
He continues, “You have Albanians trying members of their own group, and of the opposition (Serbs)—and it’s nearly impossible to be impartial. Plus, there was rampant corruption. There were outcomes of war crime trials that were obviously unfair.”
So in 2000, the U.N. sent international judges to work in the Kosovo courts. Initially, the judges were primarily from European nations having court systems similar to Kosovo’s. In 2002, the program expanded to include Americans. Wilson was one of the first.
Living and working in Kosovo took some adjustment. Not surprising, perhaps, in a country where judges could be bought (their average salary was less than $10,000 a year) and trial witnesses often feared being threatened or shot. Yet, Wilson says, he was never afraid for his own safety. “Obviously, as an African American I stood out, didn’t blend in. But I didn’t feel threatened, and lived a fairly normal life.”
His role as a judge, however, was not “normal”—at least considering his role in the U.S. “Here, the judge’s role is to serve as a facilitator—ensuring rights aren’t violated, that the jury gets unbiased evidence from the prosecution and defense. But in Kosovo, a judge plays a much different role.
“A judge there becomes a part of the investigation. He calls and questions the witness, and determines if there’s enough evidence to keep the trial going. He’s in charge of all phases of a trial. The lawyers play far less of a role in representing their client than American lawyers, and there are no juries,” he says.
“It was a tremendous learning opportunity, and I hope we helped them, as well. That’s a major part of why we were there—to mentor, teach, and open people's eyes to a different way of doing things.”
After returning from Kosovo, Wilson continued pursuing his interests in international law and the concept of restorative justice.
“Restorative justice gets people in the community to work together to work with the person(s) who have committed a crime, and to try and repair the damage done. It’s not about ‘punishment’ (although certainly, there is a need for that in some cases), but more about healing the community and trying to rehabilitate the individual.”
Wilson was involved in a Ramsey County restorative justice program that provided young African American men who otherwise would have gone to prison. These alternatives allowed them to learn, grow, and provide restitution to the victim. In the process, it helped both the victim and the community to heal. For Wilson, restorative justice is “a principle and a spirit that I always try to incorporate into my work, both in the community and as a judge.”
He also pursued the concept academically through the MLS. “It’s a complex process…and crosses many disciplines, so the MLS was an ideal program to study it. Justice does not exist in a vacuum.” Wilson took courses in everything from literature to psychology, and studied in departments including the Center for Spirituality and Healing and the U of M Human Rights Center.
For his thesis, “Riff on a Theme: Rwanda's Contemporary Gacaca Courts- Foundation for Forgiveness and Reconciliation?”, Wilson studied the gacaca courts (the informal Rwandan judiciary established to promote justice and healing following the 1994 genocides), and the role religion plays in restorative justice in the area.
During his research, he traveled to Rwanda, where he had the opportunity to talk with government officials, human rights workers, religious leaders, victims, and offenders. “I was interested in determining the effectiveness of gacaca, as well as seeing if religious organizations—in particular those of the Christian faith (Rwanda is predominantly Christian)—could facilitate reconciliation. I was also interested in how religious faith intertwined with the gacaca process.”
Back at work in Ramsey county, have Wilson’s experiences left an impression on him? “In Kosovo, I came to appreciate the justice system we have here; of the training and schooling we go through—lawyers and judges and others in the field. But I also saw that there are people out there who are willing to fight to see that justice becomes a reality in Kosovo, that justice does prevail.
Rwanda renewed my spirit for human rights work. I saw that there was some hope for reconciliation in the future, for restorative justice, but I also saw that the gacaca courts cannot do it alone, and must work with a faith-based component. The government can decree one thing, but reconciliation is an individual thing—people must learn not to forget what happened, you cannot forget a genocide, but to move on with their lives, to live side by side.”
