Program to revamp student justice

from the article by Libby Jelinek in The Vista:

University of San Diego (USD) alum Justine Darling, '08, has collaborated with Student Affairs to establish a one-year pilot restorative justice program on campus that has the potential to transform how students experience USD's student conduct system.

....The one-year pilot program will implement restorative justice conferencing and peace circles to find solutions for issues in the campus community. The restorative justice process focuses on three main goals: to empower, to educate and to build relationships. Throughout the program, students are involved and invested in the decision-making process. The most valuable aspect of restorative justice, according to Darling, is that students learn another way to handle conflict in their lives, such that bringing the offender and impacted parties together can develop what would otherwise be a negative relationship into a positive one.

Oct 31, 2011 Policy, School, Region: North America and Caribbean, Country:USA

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How victim rights became a juggernaut shaping spending, laws and the future of punishment

from the article by Alan Prendergast in Denver Westword:

Newly elected as a state representative, Pete Lee hit the Capitol last January fired up with big ideas. The biggest of them all was the restorative-justice bill he introduced shortly after the session began.

Oct 28, 2011 Support, Region: North America and Caribbean, Policy, Politics, Country:USA

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Texas achieves dramatic results in criminal justice reform

from the press release from Right on Crime (hat tip to Grits for Breakfast):

Right on Crime and the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) today released two policy briefs regarding Texas' extensive criminal justice reforms in juvenile and adult corrections. Over the last decade, the groups' policy advisors have been instrumental in working with the Texas legislature and Governor Rick Perry to overhaul the state's corrections system.

"For the first time in state history, Texas closed a prison because we don't need it anymore," said Marc Levin, Senior Policy Advisor to Right on Crime, who also serves as the Director of the Center for Effective Justice at the Texas Public Policy Foundation.  "The reforms that were first adopted in Texas have stimulated similar initiatives across the nation in South Carolina, Kentucky, Georgia, Ohio, Arkansas, and other states.  Crime has dropped in Texas since the changes and taxpayers have saved more than a billion dollars from not building new prisons.  We believe these commonsense policies, which were supported by 'tough and smart on crime' conservatives and are outlined in these reports, can serve as an effective model for other states."

Oct 14, 2011 Politics, Region: North America and Caribbean, Country:USA

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Mother cares for her son’s Amish victims

from Daniel Burke's article in the Washington Post:

....Three months after the shooting, Chuck and Terri Roberts began visiting the victims and their families.

Terri invited the surviving girls and their mothers to picnics and tea parties at her home.

At one tea, Terri asked the mothers to sit in a circle and share the highest and lowest points of their lives. She yearned to connect with Mary Liz King, the mother of a paralyzed girl named Rosanna.

King explained how her trials were different than the rest of the victims. Their daughters had died or healed, whereas Rosanna, unable to move most of her body, requires constant care.

Oct 12, 2011 Story, Region: North America and Caribbean, Country:USA

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Five years later, Amish grace still flowing from Nickel Mines

from Sheldon C. Good's article in Mennonite Weekly Review:

Just hours after Charles Carl Roberts IV shot and killed five Amish girls and injured five others on Oct. 2, 2006, in a Nickel Mines schoolhouse, the Amish responded in a way that amazed the world — with forgiveness.

For the Amish, forgiveness is not only a dutiful response to tragedy, it is a way of life — a long, emotional journey. Though the gaze of outsiders has moved on, Amish grace continues to flow in seemingly unimaginable yet strikingly ordinary ways throughout Lancaster County.

The fifth anniversary of the Oct. 2 tragedy provided the backdrop for a Sept. 22 conference, “The Power of Forgiveness: Lessons from Nickel Mines.”

Oct 11, 2011 Region: North America and Caribbean, Victim, Case:Homicide, Forgiveness, Country:USA

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