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- Showing 10 posts published between Aug 01, 2009 and Aug 31, 2009 [Show all]
Peace education institute proposed for Mindanao
from the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines:
In consonance with the peace program of the government, an educational institution for peace is now being sought in order to promote the spirit of understanding, tolerance and peaceful co-existence.
Aug 12, 2009 Country:Philippines, Region: Pacific
Hundreds hurt in California prison riot: What's wrong with California?
by Lisa Rea
As a medium security prison in Chino, California erupts in violence over the weekend injuring 250 inmates and hospitalizing 55, you have to ask what's wrong with California's prison system? As the details of this prison riot become available we read that it appears to be gang related violence: African American prison gangs versus Latino prison gangs. This is not new in the state's prison system. But what California has been wrestling with, or not, is its every increasing prison population. A fact, that frankly, California public officials -- governors, past and present, and California legislators, refuse to grapple with in any reasonable and intelligent way.
Aug 11, 2009 Policy, Politics, Correspondent:Lisa Rea
Video Review: The Amy Wall Story
By Kate Strong
When a drunk driver hit the car driven by seventeen year old Amy Wall, her family was plunged into grief. For Joe Avila, the man driving the car that killed Amy, the days following were filled with despair as he awaited the court proceedings. Yet, a meeting between Joe and Amy's family organised by the Victim-Offender Reconciliation Program out of Fresno, California, helped them both find the peace they so desperately needed.
This video, recorded at the 2009 Restorative Justice Conference held at Fresno Pacific University, allows Joe Avila and Derrick Wall tell their stories of the crime, meeting with each other, and healing.
Aug 10, 2009 Video Review
Finding space for Fido
by Dan Van Ness
This is not the story about a violent crime or even school bullying. But it concerns a problem contributing to the quality of life of people in a neighborhood, and of the dogs that some of them own.
Dog owners in the Kingfield neighbourhood of Minneapolis want a place for their pets to run free. While there is no park in their district that allows this, some of them unleash their dogs anyhow.
Aug 10, 2009 Process, Correspondent:Dan Van Ness, Community
Violent juveniles serving life without parole: When victims of crime disagree
By Lisa Rea
I would like to draw your attention to a very controversial piece of US federal legislation, HR 2289, which seeks to address the problem of juvenile lifers who are serving life sentences.
The expressed purpose of the bill is to "establish a meaningful opportunity for parole or similar release of juvenile offenders sentenced to life in prison."
Aug 07, 2009 Retribution, Juvenile, Theory, Correspondent:Lisa Rea, Region: North America and Caribbean
Video Review: An Introduction to Restorative Practices at Endeavour High School
by Kate Strong
This video describes the positive results of restorative practices implemented in a school with behavioral and performance problems in England.
Endeavour High School in Hull, England, had a very bad reputation in its community and the larger educational system. In addition, socioeconomic conditions made it difficult for students to participate positively in their school.
The administration decided the best way to address both problems was to institute restorative practices, citing that the traditional ways simply were not working. The community, students, and teachers were skeptical at first. But after eighteen months, the results have been very positive. There is a greater sense of community in the school, the students have learned how to build real relationships with each other, and overall behavior has improved.
Aug 07, 2009 School, Video Review, RJ City, Practice, Evaluation, Secondary
Video Review: The Meaning of Life
by Kate Strong
Several inmates at an experimental prison in Canada relate the stories of their lives both in and out of prison, focusing particularly on what they think of the restorative justice practices modeled at the prison.
Kwixwekwelhp, a minimum-security prison in British Columbia, is unlike any other prison in Canada, and the inmates know it. Shots of a Vancouver winter, frozen and minimally abundant, counterpoint one man's sentiment that at this prison the only fence is one to keep the inmates from falling into the creek.
Correctional Services Canada partnered ten years ago with Chehalis, a local Aboriginal community, to implement traditional Aboriginal practices that focus on healing as an alternative to the retributively-minded general criminal system. These Aboriginal spiritual practices underlie the entire prison. No inmate needs to conform to Aboriginal spirituality but he does need to have respect for it. The inmates are allowed to go into Chehalis to form connections with people outside the prison, do community service, and participate in ritual ceremonies.
Aug 07, 2009 Video Review
Intimate partner violence: Towards a sociological understanding
from Richard Record's entry on Sociological Dialogues:
Finally the Domestic Violence Act as an intervention by the criminal justice system is based on an adversarial system, where victims often have to defend themselves within the court setting, since perpetrators have the opportunity to make representations and place the victims under cross examination. The credibility of victims can therefore be broken down. Therefore there is the possibility that the woman who might need the protection order the most, will not get one granted due to her credibility being brought into question.
Aug 06, 2009 Policy, Case:Domestic Violence
Rape and restorative justice
from Kameelah Rasheed's entry on WireTap Magazine's blog:
On July 16 in Phoenix, Arizona, four boys ages 9 to 14 took turns
raping an 8-year-old girl for more than 10 minutes after luring her
into a shed with chewing gum. They held her down. They raped her
repeatedly as she screamed — "hysterical" screams that prompted an
emergency call. When officers arrived on the scene, they found the girl
partially clothed and the boys running from the shed.
The girl
as well as her four rapists are refugees from Liberia in West Africa.
The country is struggling to emerge from it's 14 year civil war, which lasted from 1989 to 2003. During the conflict rape was used as a weapon resulting in as many as three-fourths of women being assaulted.
The civil war forced more than 7,300 Liberians
to seek refuge in the United States. One such community of refugees
resettled in Arizona which is now home to nearly 1,200 Liberian
refugees. As one reporter noted,
Liberian refugees who have fled the war-torn nation say the Phoenix
case is a horrifying example of families trying to escape violence in
their own country only to find it again in their new home.
Aug 06, 2009 Policy, Case:Sexual
One step among many
from the No To Rape Blog:
The abolition of marital immunity for rape will not resolve all issues relating to marital rape. Far from it. Many other interventions are needed. Counselling, mediation, medical help and the civil law all have a part to play in responding to incidents, and education and a wider national conversation are needed to build a culture where all are conscious of the importance of seeking and communicating consent when engaging in sexual activity.
Aug 05, 2009 Policy, Case:Sexual
