Offenders, victims resolve their own cases
from Shane Benjamin's article in the Durango Herald:
Zane Wells, 22, drank too much one night at El Rancho. In a stupor, he kicked a door and caused about $300 in damage.
He was arrested for criminal mischief, a misdemeanor. But instead of letting the courts resolve the case, he was selected to participate in a victim-offender mediation program, where he could apologize to the business owners and hash out a mutual resolution.
At first, bar owners Chip and Chris Lile were reluctant to participate in such a program. They felt victimized by Wells’ actions and wanted the courts to enact justice.
“My thoughts were, it was a way for somebody to avoid trouble with the courts and get out of what they did,” Chip Lile said.
Oct 29, 2009 Story
A new kind of justice
from Rebecca Webber's article in Parade Magazine:
From Fresno, Calif., to Hempstead, N.Y., hundreds of communities in the country are using “ restorative justice” to deal with criminals. Offenders must take responsibility for their actions and try to repair the harm they’ve done—by apologizing, returning stolen money, or doing community service, for example. “People find a way to right the wrong, and that’s the beauty of it,” says Beverly Title, who runs a program in Longmont, Colo. Restorative justice can work in lieu of the criminal-justice system or in partnership with it.
Accreditation blueprint: Proposal to the Restorative Justice Consortium
from the Executive Summary:
In 2008, the Restorative Justice Consortium commissioned a consultancy, JPA Europe Limited, to conduct a 12 month project to define and test accreditation for restorative practice and based on the results develop a blueprint to map out the way forward in accreditation for the restorative practice sector.
Oct 28, 2009 Region:Europe, Practice, Country:England&Wales, Guidelines, Standards
Justice group welcome
from Saoirse32:
A Unionist councillor has welcomed news that a community restorative justice scheme in Newry and south Armagh has received official government status.
The CRJ scheme, based in Mullaghbawn, received government accreditation on Thursday following an inspection by Criminal Justice Inspection NI (CJI).
The inspection reported that the UN principles on Restorative Justice were being observed by the organisation and that senior police officers working in Newry and south Armagh indicated that a relationship which held promise for the future is developing.
Oct 28, 2009 Region:Europe, Practice, Guidelines, Standards, Country:Northern Ireland
The power of art
from Maggie's entry on ...here comes the Sun Philadelphia...:
So October is Mural Arts Month, get pumped people.
“A Love Letter for You” is currently the featured project for The Philadelphia Mural Arts Program. This awesome program is celebrating 25 years for making the city of brotherly love beautiful. This program unities both artists and communities through the traditions of mural making. It is program that builds community by transforming public spaces into beautiful pieces of art and helps change peoples lives.
Gubernatorial candidates in California talk prisons & prison reform
by Lisa Rea
Some weeks ago the Sacramento Bee did a story on the five candidates running for governor of California, thus far, and their views on prisons and criminal justice policies. It is hard to say that any of the responses are encouraging or enlightened. In fact, it left me wondering where's the vision? Where's the bold leadership?
Many of the responses showed a lack of understanding of the prison crisis the state faces and some of the responses showed a surprising amount of ignorance. The declared or soon to be declared candidates include Republicans: businesswoman Meg Whitman, state insurance commissioner Steve Poizner, and former congressman and state legislator Tom Campbell. The Democrats include state attorney general and former governor Jerry Brown and mayor of San Francisco Gavin Newsom. Many of the candidate's comments reflected some of the same rhetoric heard this year in the California Legislature. The state is faced with severe prison overcrowding with increasing threats by federal courts to reduce its prison population. This has made prison reform more than a hot topic; some might call it “toxic”.
Oct 27, 2009 Politics, Region: North America and Caribbean, Country:USA, Correspondent:Lisa Rea
SFCG Morocco Celebrates New Mediation Centers
Search for Common Ground (SFCG) Morocco recently celebrated the opening of two mediation centers in Casablanca. The openings mark the culmination of the team’s project aimed at providing mediation training for youth.
The project is titled, “Mitigating Communal Conflict by Engaging Youth Constructively in Local Democratic and Economic Development Through the Establishment of Youth Community and Mediation Centers in Casablanca and Tetouan.”
Oct 26, 2009 Country:Morocco, Juvenile, Mediation, Region:Middle East
By No Means Easy: Responding to Conflict in Personal Life
“I’m glad we went through that process before he died,” I recently told my pastor. Jay had been speaking of the death of a long-time member who had participated in a number of church conflicts over the years. The process I referred to was a series of meetings with the individual to discuss the impact of letters he had sent during the past two years to the entire congregation on several contentious issues. These letters created various harms to individual church members as well as to the church family in general. In reflecting on the loss of Mr. M., I couldn’t help but feel that the meetings provided an avenue for church leadership to both express care for him and be open to listening to his positions and the concerns behind them.
Oct 26, 2009 Living, Correspondent:Lynette Parker, Religion
Day 3 at the 12th World Conference of the International Institute for Restorative Practices
From the 23 October Restorative Practices E-Forum by Laura Mirsky of the International Institute for Restorative Practices.
After welcoming the conference participants, IIRP president Ted Wachtel introduced Wilma Derksen, director, Victims’ Voice, Mennonite Central Committee, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Herself the mother of a murdered child, Derksen discussed the "victim/offender trauma bond,” explaining “why a violent crime has such catastrophic impact on victims and why restorative justice (RJ) looks different through the eyes of a crime victim.” Click here to read Derksen’s paper: Understanding Victims of Crime and Their Need to Deal with the Victim/Offender Trauma Bond.
St Rita's College Clayfield rocked by cheating scandal
From Tanya Chilcott's article in Courier-Mail:
A leading Brisbane private girls' school has been rocked by a cheating scandal after a group of students was caught just weeks before graduation.
St Rita's College principal Dale Morrow said the incident, the first of its kind in her eight years at the Clayfield school, had been "a very difficult" time for all involved.....
....It is understood one girl attained the answers from a teacher's computer and passed them on.
