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- Showing 10 posts published between Aug 01, 2009 and Aug 31, 2009 [Show all]
I looked into the killer's eyes
From Neil Reid's story in the Sunday News:
Miracle survivor Barbara Bishop has looked the woman who tried to kill her in the eye.
Bound, drugged and tormented, Barbara was bundled into a car and pushed off a cliff after watching her friend Niki Goodwin murdered by ex-husband Mark Goodwin and his girlfriend, former prostitute Jan Yorke.
But a freak wave lifted the vehicle off the rocks where she lay trapped for seven hours saving her life and allowing her to help gain justice for her friend.
The crime which shocked New Zealand 14 years ago will have a sequel next month when Yorke faces the Parole Board.
Aug 19, 2009 Country:New Zealand, Region: Pacific, Story
Police give backing to new apology system
From the article by Sarah Bould in Easwood and Kimberly Advertiser:
Many more minor crimes in Nottinghamshire are being dealt with by the criminals saying 'sorry', to their victims.
Police hope the move will free up officers so they have more time to patrol the streets.
The 'restorative justice' initiative aims to deal swiftly with minor crimes, without the case going to court and has seen criminals being made to apologise or compensate their victims.
Striking a balance: Restorative justice brings offenders face-to-face with their victims
From Katie Derosa's story in the Times Colonist:
In the emotional saga following the brutal murder of 14-year-old Reena Virk in 1997, her traumatized parents went through markedly different experiences with their daughter's two killers: One of denial and self-pity with Kelly Ellard, and one of remorse and closure with Warren Glowatski.
With Ellard, Manjit and Suman Virk sat on the sidelines of the legal system, spending 12 years in and out of courtrooms, watching the courts mete out decision after decision -- three trials, one hung jury, two successful appeals -- as Ellard continued to deny her role in the murder. Year after year, the story of Reena's murder -- how she was swarmed by a group of teens, beaten and drowned under the Craigflower bridge -- was told over and over, and year after year, the Virks waited for justice.
Aug 18, 2009 Story
"Building Social Support for Restorative Justice" has a survey for you to fill out
from the European Forum on Restorative Justice's Newsflash:
One of the projects the European Forum for Restorative Justice is currently engaged in is "Building Social Support for Restorative Justice". Having worked on the project for some months, and having successfully run the June Seminar for the mentioned project, we are now at the point of kindly requesting input in relation to the 3 main questions addressed in the research project:Restorative justice as part of a sentence
Recently, a news article describing a case of stolen money arrived in my inbox. As I perused the article wondering why it was included in a news alert on restorative justice, I ran across this sentence:
"[Defendant's name] was also ordered to pay at least $200 per month in restitution and continuing paying until $5,382 is paid back, and to write an apology letter and attend victim-offender mediation."
I found myself frustrated by the inclusion of a restorative process in a listing of elements in the sentence. As a volunteer facilitator in an organisation that often receives cases of court-ordered restorative processes, I mentally ticked off the various problems that could arise from such referrals.
Aug 17, 2009 Correspondent:Lynette Parker
Restorative justice could be answer to doping problem
from Kurt Streeter's column in the LA Times sports section:
We've tried blame. We've tried shame. We've tried hard punishment.
But on the doping-in-sports front, we're making very little real progress. Suspicion still reigns. Chemists remain ahead of the testers. Every other week there's a new bust.
We've hit a wall.
There are the athletes who get caught and then, invariably, smile and smirk, duck and dodge, taking as little responsibility as possible.
There are those, like me, who feel moral outrage -- that altering the body this way should never be condoned. Our voices are growing faint.
There are the hordes who've begun to tune out the whole issue despite feeling, deep in the gut, that something is really wrong: that our games, and by extension society, have been tarnished by widespread doping.
Let's try a new approach. It's time to seek higher ground: accountability, responsibility -- and yes, forgiveness....
Aug 14, 2009 Workplaces, Locker Room
Victims of crime: Meeting with a killer
An interview of Ellen Halbert by Lisa Rea in the current issue of Freedom from Fear Magazine, published by UNICRI.
In 1986, Ellen Halbert was raped, stabbed, beaten with a hammer and left for dead in her home in Texas. During her recovery, she began to speak out about victims’ rights and what needed to change in our “offender-focused” criminal justice system. In 1991, she was appointed by Governor Ann Richards as the first victim to serve on the Texas Board of Criminal Justice, the board that oversees the massive adult criminal justice system in Texas....
Aug 14, 2009 Practice, Victim, Correspondent:Lisa Rea
Restorative justice and tribal law
from Restorative Justice Community blog:
...."Restorative justice” as used here is distinct from the term as commonly understood and applied. The traditional concept is distinct, also, from how the term is used in the Navajo Nation Code. Whereas the term in the American justice system has become greatly simplified and come to mean non-convictions, no jail and no fines, restorative justice in traditional Indian justice is used in the literal sense, to “restore” in conformity with justice principles. Wrongdoers, those who are harmed, and their affected communities are engaged in search of solutions that promote repair and rebuilding. Convictions, detention, and penalties in support of personal responsibility and community safety are not excluded....
Aug 13, 2009 Definition, Region: North America and Caribbean, Theory, Country:USA, Indigenous
Mum who pilfered cheerleading fund faces jail
A woman who stole thousands of dollars from her daughters' cheerleading squad to fund a gambling habit could be facing prison time after the victims rejected restorative justice.
Carlynn Saunders-Clarke has admitted three charges of causing loss by deception after taking an estimated $8900 from cash being raised by the Whangarei squad for a trip to Queensland....
Aug 13, 2009 Country:New Zealand, Other, Region: Pacific
Drunk driving and the purpose of punishment
From John G. Spragge's entry on Open Hand/Open Eye:
....But I know this too: that the justice system makes no sense at all when it makes distinctions not between harms but between instruments. The law ought to discriminate between harm done by negligence and harm done by malice. But the courts ought not to make a distinction between a child killed by negligence with a car bumper and negligence with a Glock....
Aug 12, 2009 Retribution, Theory, Case:DWI
