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- Showing 10 posts published between Nov 01, 2009 and Nov 30, 2009 [Show all]
Why is it important for people of faith to be involved in domestic violence work?
from the Renewal House blog entry:
A reporter from the Boston Herald asked me that question yesterday afternoon. The reporter is working on an article highlighting the Restorer’s Ministry, a new hotline led by three women from the Grace of All Nations Church in Dorchester. We have been supporting the training needs of the three as they seek to live out their call to serving individuals and families struggling with issues of domestic violence in their community.
Nov 10, 2009 Policy, Religion, Case:Domestic Violence, Community
A challenge
from the entry on Restore:
I’m listening this morning to the slew of financial statistics–housing starts, unemployment rate, bank closings, those without health care, bankruptcies, houses in foreclosure….
It seems to me that restorative justice needs to come up with an index of its own: one that marks the measure of social justice. Are we moving closer or further away from our goal of less reliance on prisons, improving social relationships in our communities, looking at how well or how poorly alternatives to incarceration are funded? What is the ratio between expenditures on prisons vs. what we spend on schools? What is the ratio of crime to poverty? Number of dispute resolution programs to police officers?
Nov 10, 2009 Limitations, Theory, Tool, Potential, Evaluation
Restorative justice and victim services collaboration
from Howard Zehr's entry on Restorative Justice Blog:
....I had a number of energizing engagements coordinated by AUT’s Restorative Justice Centre. The last engagement was a keynote for the national Victim Support Conference, held in Wellington. I had been asked to speak about victims’ justice needs, how restorative justice seeks to address them, and how the restorative justice and victim support communities could connect better with one another. I was encouraged by the group’ enthusiasm for engaging with restorative justice. In fact, in at least one area in the South Island, such collaboration has already begun between youth justice and victim support.The question in New Zealand now is how to move this forward in both the youth justice and adult justice spheres.
More equal societies do better at almost everything
from Ben Duncan's entry on Ben's Bookshop:
The Spirit Level by Kate Pickett and Richard Wilkinson is a statistical
romp through the data on a range of social ills: mental ill-health,
teenage pregnancy levels, poor life expectancy, levels of crime and
violence in society, and so on, and it finds something that is either
remarkable, or stands to reason, depending on your perspective.
In
short, Picket and Wilkinson conclude, the more equal a society is - the
smaller the gap between the richest and poorest, in other words - the
better that society performs, at pretty much everything, for pretty
much everyone.
Nov 06, 2009 Limitations, Potential, Theory
Restorative justice could actually restore justice
from Alasdair Palmer's opinion article on Telegraph.co.uk:
What is to be done about Britain's stubbornly high crime rate? Sentencing more offenders to longer terms in prison is one answer – but that is a counsel of despair. Overcrowding has now reached the point where prison governors have given up on rehabilitation: even modest attempts at persuading criminals out of a life of crime have been abandoned.
Prison certainly has the very significant advantage of keeping criminals off the streets, which alternatives such as community sentences do not share. But prisoners have to be released, most after less than two years, and when they are freed, around half end up being reconvicted and returned to jail.
RJ Online Library
One of the main attractions on Restorative Justice Online is the research database with over 9600 citations of restorative justice publications ranging from academic publications to practice manuals to research reports to policy documents, etc.
Below is a list of items added to the database during the past week.
Lisa Rea interviews Stephen Watt
By Lisa Rea:
The following interview is with Stephen Watt, a former Wyoming state trooper and two term state legislator who was shot multiple times by a fleeing bank robber. Lisa Rea's interview focuses on how the impact of a severely violent crime continues 20 years later. Mr. Watt has met with the offender, forgiven him and a friendly relationship has grown up between them. Nevertheless, he continues to suffer. Can restorative justice open doors for further healing in a victim of violent crime who is suffering continuing, severe trauma?
Nov 05, 2009 Story, Correspondent:Lisa Rea, Support, Practice, Victim, Restitution
Challenging crime and criminal justice systems in Africa: Towards restoration of Afrocentric justice
Don Omale reports on an international seminar conducted in Abuja, Nigeria on 8 October 2009:
The seminar organised by a network of African organisations working on peace, security and conflict created an opportunity aimed at influencing reforms in the criminal justice systems in Africa. It also serves as a dialogue forum for drawing attention to the effects of crime and defective criminal justice systems on the
sustainability of the democratic and developmental process of Africa. Recommendations from the seminar also aim to complement the formal National Economic Partnership for African Development (NEPAD)-Africa Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) process.
Nov 05, 2009 RJ Online, Region: Africa
Engaging diasporas in truth commissions: Lessons from the Liberia Truth and Reconciliation Commission (LTRC) Diaspora Project
from the article by Laura A. Young and Rosalyn Park:
The LTRC recognized that several aspects of the Liberian context made involvement of the diaspora a critical component of the truth and reconciliation process in Liberia. Liberia's long-standing relationship with the US and the role played by the US during the conflict – both actions and omissions – provided a framework for examining the conflict. Also, key witnesses, alleged perpetrators, and other conflict actors were known to be residing in the diaspora, primarily in the US, but also in Europe and West Africa, and there was a widespread belief that the diaspora had played a critical role in fomenting and funding the conflict. Finally, the potential for harnessing diaspora resources was a further motivating factor for the LTRC. Commissioners expressed the hope that diaspora engagement could rally additional resources for reparations and development. Indeed, in its final report, the LTRC recommended that Liberians in the diaspora each contribute at least US$1.00 monthly to the Reparations Trust Fund ‘as the beginning of its contribution as citizens of Liberia to the economic and social development of their motherland.’
Nov 05, 2009 Country:Liberia, Region: Africa, National Reconciliation
Forgiveness: Human or Divine?
from Josh Ruxin's entry on Huffington Post:
Earlier this month the film As We Forgive, a documentary about Rwanda, was released on DVD (check out the trailer here). It does not chronicle the 1994 genocide, but what has come after: Rwanda's struggle to rebuild itself.
Nov 04, 2009 Country:Rwanda, Region: Africa, National Reconciliation, Video Review
