Stop bullying now
from Dean Henk's entry on the Marquette Educator:
Attending the Law School’s conference on bullying yesterday took me back vividly to the one and only time I was bullied. It only lasted about 24 hours, but it made such an impact on me that I’ll remember it always.
When I was in sixth grade, our class bully threatened to kill me because I beat him out for the basketball team. I was traumatized, because he had flunked two times and was physically superior to everyone in my class.
Interview with the director and cast of “Frozen”
from Shayne Dukevitch's interview on Behind the Curtain at...Actors:
Right now cast and crew are hard at work on the demanding task of bringing Bryony Lavery’s hard-hitting drama Frozen to life. The play is set to premier on December 3rd and run through the 12th of the month. It is a superb play about violent crime, emotional paralysis and the power and scope of forgiveness. Recently Shayne Dukevitch had the chance to ask Director Stephanie Sandberg and principle cast members Kitty Carpenter, Ralph Lister and Rebecca Monterusso some questions about the process of bringing this challenging work to life.
Nov 17, 2009 Forgiveness, Victim
Restorative justice: A farfetched idea for the Caribbean?
from the article by Abiola Inniss posted on Set Our People Free...
Recent years have found the Caribbean embroiled in the challenges of drug trafficking, money laundering, murder, rape, robbery and crimes of all sorts. Gang warfare in Jamaica and Trinidad have resulted in appalling loss of lives, damage to property and devastated the communities involved.
Guyana also experienced the murder of a large number of persons in the wasting by gunmen of the Kaieteur News press men, the Lusignan and Bartica massacres and numerous other murders that have remained unsolved.
Some of these crimes have been clearly linked to the drug trade while others seem to have been committed in what has become the ordinary run of criminal activities; since as in the words of Guyana’s poet laureate Martin Carter “Men murder men as men must murder men”.
Nov 16, 2009 Case:Violence, Region: North America and Caribbean
The purpose of ‘kooky’ in restorative justice circles
from Kris Miner's blog Restorative Justice and Circles:
People that participate in Circles with me, become really honest about what they thought at first. This honest testimony about what people thought about a Circle at first, and what they think now is an endorsement for the process.
The most recent description like this used the term ” kooky“. It’s been mentioned that they seemed wierd. One advocate says that when I first described it he thought it was for little kids. Now he tells people how effective the Circle is. He participates strongly and completely in every Circle we have done together, from college classes, to residential treatment programs, half-way houses and underage consumption panels.
Karadzic trial
from Jon Western's entry on The Duck of Minerva:
Radovan Karadzic, the leader of wartime Bosnian Serbs, was a no show
today at the opening of his trial at the International Criminal
Tribunal on Yugoslavia. He's planning to defend himself against eleven
counts of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and other
atrocities.
The reason for his no-show? One of his legal advisors told the BBC that
from the scope of the trial - thought to include 1.2 million pages of
evidence, numerous crime scenes and hundreds of witness - it was
understandable why Mr Karadzic, who is not a trained lawyer, had stayed
away.
Nov 13, 2009 National Reconciliation
Promoting international support for community-based justice mechanisms in post-conflict Burundi and Uganda
from the Introduction to a Report by Bahati Ntama Jacques and Beth Tuckey:
Those who committed crimes in the long wars in Burundi and Uganda are wanted by both the national and international criminal court system, but very little attention is given to peacebuilding, reconciliation, or restoration of the communities destroyed by violence. For example, the reconciliation process of mato oput, an Acholi tradition in northern Uganda, and the Ubushingantahe in Burundi, uniquely achieve justice and healing of the concerned parties in a way that a formal justice system cannot. These methods of restorative justice emphasize community-building and the need to reconcile an entire society after conflict.
To complete this project, interviews with both victims and perpetrators of crime, as well as implementers of restorative justice programs were conducted in Burundi and Uganda. Using this local perspective, the paper elevates the need for international recognition and support for restorative justice mechanisms in post-conflict communities in Africa. Civil society has an important role to play in elevating awareness of these traditions and practices, and the U.S. government can enhance restorative justice through both leverage and funding. Ultimately, it is imperative that Western governments and citizens around the world perceive restorative justice as a legitimate and much-needed form of justice.
Nov 13, 2009 Country:Burundi, National Reconciliation, Country:Uganda, Region: Africa, Indigenous
Implementing restorative justice: A guide for schools
Recently, the Illinois Criminal Justice Authority released the guide Implementing Restorative Justice: A guide for Schools as part of a series of resources created to help with the statewide implementation of restorative justice for working with young offenders. Developed with assistance from juvenile justice practitioners and school personnel, it provides guidance for implementing policy and practice in both elementary and secondary schools. The goals of the guide include:
- Introduce to school personnel the concepts of restorative justice and restorative discipline.
- Offer new tools that can reduce the need for school exclusion and juvenile justice system involvement in school misconduct.
- Offer ways to enhance the school environment to prevent conflict and restore relationships after conflict arises.
Nov 12, 2009 School, Practice, Guidelines, Manual, Guideline, Region: North America and Caribbean, Policy, Standards, Teacher, Country:USA
Mexico training public servants in restorative justice
From 12 October to 6 November, the Procuraduría General de Justicia del Estado (PGJE—State Attorney General) of the Mexican State of Oaxaca, in conjunction with the non-governmental organisation Proderecho, hosted diploma course featuring restorative justice and several alternative dispute resolution processes. The course, “Managing conflicts: negotiation, mediation, and restorative justice,” provided an overview of the dynamics of personal and group conflicts and different conflict resolution processes.
Nov 12, 2009 Region: Latin America, Country:Mexico
Imprisoning a child for life
from the New York Times editorial:
The United States could be the only nation in the world where a 13-year-old child can be sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole, even for crimes that do not include murder. This grim distinction should trouble Americans deeply, as should all of the barbaric sentencing policies for children that this country embraces but that most of the world has abandoned.
Muhammad and the 'closure' myth
from Naseem Rakha's column in the Washington Post:
....In the past decade, 24 U.S. prisons have begun victim-offender dialogue programs. These programs give victims' survivors opportunities to meet with, talk to and ask questions of the offenders, often questions only the offender can answer. According to John Wilson, director of Just Alternatives, a group that trains prison personnel in the dialogue program, this victim-led initiative has brought a sense of power and renewal to the lives of survivors. "Survivors can go through years of therapy, but until they have the opportunity to talk with their offenders, their healing often feels unfinished," he said.
Nov 11, 2009 Dialogue, Offender, Support, Practice, Victim, Prison
