Dan Van Ness

Ecuador

You might pass this along to the group that compiles the list. Their 2010 list is out ( http://www.visionofhumanity.org/gpi-data/#/2010/scor ) and Ecuador has moved up. [...]

is this a joke

Ecuador in 109? never been in a war, no terrorism, only country with an environmental law, could walk on the street safe at night. free [...]

STP in Queensland

Norton, this is great news. Thanks for sharing. I look forward to hearing from you and Martin on progress. Blessings, Lynette

Ministerial submissions

Ron Nikkel met with the Queensland, Australia Minister for Corrective Services and handed to him a copy of the recent research of Sheffield University. The [...]

Marietta Jaegar Lane's story: experiencing healing after violent crime

Marietta, thank you for telling your incredible story. I had heard of you for so many years, Marietta, but until I heard you tell your [...]

Death Penalty vs. Restorative Justice

I am a believer in the healing power and restorative justice of forgiveness, although I readily admit that when my little girl was kidnapped, I [...]

religion or restorative justice?

It's not hard for me to remember that we were human long before religion entered the pictured and I'd like to share my non-religious view [...]

Patti

I agree with Patti...Who are any of you to attack Dr. Petit for not being able to forgive the ANIMALS who RAPED, TORTURED and MURDERED [...]

Internally displaced people in Colombia: Victims in permanent transition

by Dan Van Ness I have just received a copy of a research study on the peace negotiations in Colombia: Internally displaced people in Colombia: Victims in permanent transition: Ethical and political dilemmas of reparative justice in the midst of internal armed conflict by Sandro Jiménez Ocampo, et al. From 2004 to 2007, the Colombian Government conducted peace negotiations with paramilitary groups. One of the issues negotiated had to do with the claims of people who had been killed or forcibly displace from their land, lands that were held by the combatants when the negotiations began. Forced displacement and deaths continued during the course of the negotiations, creating new claims. While reparation to victims was supposed to be a prominent outcome to the negotiations, the difficulties of negotiating peace in the course of a violent conflict together with the absence of the victims of displacement from the negotiation meant that there were claims of serious inadequacies with the results.

rj

thanks for the article

evidence based research supports restorative justice

Thank you for this, Dan. This is research I can use in legislative arenas. We need more hard research like this to make the case [...]

New study concludes that victim awareness programme works

by Dan Van Ness The Sycamore Tree Programme (STP), a victim awareness programme delivered by Prison Fellowship England and Wales since 1998, produces "significant positive attitudinal changes" in prisoners, making it less likely that they will commit crimes in the future. This is the finding of a new study that evaluated before and after questionnaires completed by 5,007 programme participants over the past three years.

Mennonite Justice

http://mennonitejustice.blogspot.com/

victims-centered restorative justice

Thank you for these resources, Dan. It is exciting to see so many victims speaking out and telling their stories. I am particularly eager to [...]

Treasures: Victims Voice, Safe Justice and Lemonade

by Dan Van Ness I just came across several treasures that will be extremely useful to people who have been, who love, or who work with crime victims. The first is the website of Victims' Voice, a Canadian NGO sponsored by the Mennonite Central Committee and whose purpose is "to address the revictimization of victims in the criminal justice system, to create understanding about victims among practitioners who work within the system and to give emotional and informational support directly to victims through victim-centered programs." The website has a number of resources that can be downloaded. And it contains links to two more sites, also sponsored by Victims' Voice.

Three justice orientations (or two?)

Howard Zehr, recently wrote in his Restorative Justice Blog: Stanford Law Professor Herbert Packer has argued that two opposing justice orientations dominate U.S. policy debates: crime control vs. due process. Could a restorative justice orientation provide a “third way?” that transcends these poles? The following identifies some assumptions of each. Crime control orientation: emphasis on order and security.... Due process orientation: emphasis on preventing misuse of the punishment system.... Restorative justice orientation - emphasis on repair and responsibility.... Read the whole entry.

Justice and mercy

by Dan Van Ness The compassionate release of Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, the man convicted of participation in the bombing of a Pan Am flight over Lockerbie, Scotland, has generated a great deal of discussion. And well it might; 270 people died when the plane crashed (259 passengers and 11 residents of Lockerbie). Al-Megrahi was the only person convicted of the terrorist attack.

justice

Let god provide the mercy & let man provide the justice (death penalty).

death penalty vs restorative justice

Holier than Thou? I am a Christian. Jesus teaches us to forgive, forgive, forgive, and to forgive another 487 times. This is because by then [...]

death penalty vs restorative justice

I respect the deeply held convictions that survivors of homicide (and others, of course) hold on the death penalty, life without parole and so forth. [...]