Power of One: Restorative justice couples victims with offenders

from the article on CTV.ca:

....A woman named Marité has been taking part in the process, not by facing her sexually-abusive father, but rather, another man who committed similar acts.

She said that results have helped her cope with the damage she suffered.

"For him it was like I was his daughter," said Marité. "And I was able also to express my anger to him and that's what he wanted rather than silence from his daughter."

"I can now go forward because I'm not bound to my father anymore. I can leave him go."

Jun 26, 2012 Story, Case:Burglary, Victim, Mediation, Policy, Other, Region: North America and Caribbean, Case:Sexual, Country:Canada

• Read More

The moral question

from the article by Kent Spencer in The Province:

....Elliott proposes a comparatively low-tech, low-cost method for dealing with the vast majority of offenders. It involves public apologies and community service in a concept known as restorative justice - meaning literally to restore the community to what it was.

He has offered to bring confessed wrongdoers to a place where they can meet with people who suffered trauma at the hands of roving thugs.

Jun 04, 2012 Policy, Country:Canada, Case:Livability Crimes, Case:Violence, Region: North America and Caribbean

• Read More

Exhaustive mental-health strategy needs big cash boost to address crisis

from the article by Sharon Kirkey in the Leader-Post:

The nation's first mental health strategy is calling for an overhaul of a system it calls so fractured and underfunded that it's turning prisons and jails into the "asylums of the 21st century" and leading many community service groups to drop waiting lists to avoid giving people false hope that "eventually their turn will come."

The strategy from the Mental Health Commission of Canada calls for spending on mental health to increase from seven to nine per cent of total health spending over 10 years, an increase of $34 billion. According to the commission, the economic impact of mental illness on Canada's economy is "enormous" - at least $50 billion annually.

Jun 01, 2012 Country:Canada, Potential, Theory

• Read More