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- Showing 10 posts published between May 01, 2011 and May 31, 2011 [Show all]
Give prisoners the chance to help the community
from Erwin James'commentary in the Guardian:
"I want to be out there, helping people," says one prisoner in the report, who could have been speaking for many of those I met while serving my own 20 years of prison time.
....Probably the best such experience was when I joined the Braille Unit in my first long-term high security prison. The 12 of us who worked in the unit had all been convicted of murder and for most of us it was first time in our lives that we had experienced the satisfaction that can be gained from helping other people. The prison held more than 700 of the most serious offenders in the country, but the only official opportunity for any of us to put something back into the outside community that we had harmed so badly were those 12 places in the Braille Unit.
May 17, 2011 Region:Europe, Country:England&Wales, Prison, Transformation, Restitution
Letter: Restorative Justice Program a valuable resource
from the letter by Conor B. Stott in Oregon Daily Emerald:
Every day at this University I am constantly discovering new opportunities and programs available to us students. Last spring, after an unfortunate incident on campus caused by my friend and me, we had the opportunity to redeem our actions through the Restorative Justice Program at the University. At the time, I knew absolutely nothing about this program, and I am sure most students are currently unaware of what restorative justice is and how it works.
The Restorative Justice Program is a group effort between Conflict Resolution Services and the Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards to resolve students’ infractions against the University in a manner that caters to the needs and wishes of both parties involved.
7 steps to stopping violence in relationships
from Ken Kimsey's entry on Fairness Works:
A seven-step tutorial for people involved in relationship conflicts is available online, free of charge, from the Conflict Resolution Information Source. Intended for educators and instructors, the course was designed by the Division of Continuing Education and Professional Studies at the University of Colorado in Boulder.
May 13, 2011 Limitations, Support, Practice
Victim's daughter meets IRA bomber: An interview with Jo Berry
On October 12, 1984 an IRA bomb planted by Patrick Magee demolished Brighton’s Grand Hotel in Brighton killing 5 people including Sir Anthony Berry, MP for Southgate and a member of the Thatcher government. The bomb hit on the last day of the conservative party conference held at the hotel. The IRA bomber Magee was sentenced to 35 years in prison. He was released after 14 years under the negotiated Good Friday agreement.
The following is from an interview Lisa Rea conducted with Jo Berry, daughter of Sir Anthony Berry. She did this interview from her home in Macclesfield UK. Jo Berry chose to meet with Pat Magee in November 2000. Today the two work together on many initiatives including addressing peace conferences, giving workshops in prisons, and speaking at universities.
Q. How did the meeting(s) happen? What was the process? Were you, and Pat, adequately prepared to meet? Walk us through what happened.
May 12, 2011 National Reconciliation, Correspondent:Lisa Rea, Support, Practice, Victim, Country:Northern Ireland, Region: Europe
Restorative Justice takes on West Oakland schools
from an article by Cassidy Friedman on New America Media:
From 2005 to 2009, the city of Oakland backed a restorative justice pilot project at Cole Middle School, in West Oakland, which was already slated to be shut down for low test scores. It was among the first attempts to implement restorative justice circles at a U.S. school.
By the final year, standardized test scores had risen by 74 points.
The school, which had suffered from a high turnover of teachers, retained all of its faculty.
And delinquency plummeted; suspensions fell 87 percent and expulsions dropped to zero.
May 11, 2011 School, Region: North America and Caribbean, Policy, Evaluation, Country:USA
Restorative Justice Centre helps change Roman Dutch law:
from RJC's website:
....The Restorative Justice Centre entered as amicus curiae in Le Roux v Dey, represented by the Centre for Child Law. Their submissions argued the common law should be developed to include a procedural step requiring reasonable engagement before court proceedings can be lodged. This way attempts to apologise must be the first resort, that failing, court proceedings may then be implemented. This is particularly important in cases involving children, as they are still developing and will naturally make mistakes as they grow and develop. The submissions were largely successful.
May 10, 2011 Court, Apology, Offender, Government, Country:South Africa, Region: Africa
Phoebe Prince bullies sentenced, but how do they make things right?
from Stacy Teicher Khadaroo's article in Christian Science Monitor:
Five teens who faced criminal charges for bullying in connection with the 2010 suicide of Phoebe Prince in South Hadley, Mass., have been sentenced to probation and community service.
While the courtroom chapter of the drama in central Massachusetts is largely over, bullying-prevention advocates hope that the work of “restorative justice” has just begun. Now, they say, the defendants should use their experience to help other young people steer clear of bullying and the deep harm it causes.
May 09, 2011 Juvenile, Practice, Region: North America and Caribbean, Country:USA
Working with relationships, be mindful of your own sense of justice.
from Kim Miner's entry on Restorative Justice and Circles:
....An example of justification in a case:
Both parties charged with disorderly conduct. Two young women fought. One threw something at the other, and that “started” it. Further back in time, they were friends, friend A & B. Friend A’s boyfriend cheated on her with Friend B. The friendship ended, the judgements did not, the disagreement escalated, the fight, the court, then restorative justice. When processing the situation restoratively: 1) acknowledge you caused the harm 2) understand from someone elses point of view 3) recognize where you had a choice 4) make amends and 5) take action to change.
May 06, 2011 Limitations, Support, Practice
What is the difference between unitive justice and restorative justice?
from Sylvia Clute's entry in Genuine Justice:
When you are providing restorative justice services to a criminal court, the way the court defines the problem, i.e., who broke the law, makes identifying the offender easy. But if you stop there, you fail to give context its due consideration. While context does not dictate personal choice, it certainly impacts it. A boy who grows up surrounded by drug dealers is far more likely to see that as a career option than a boy who has no drug dealers in his neighborhood.
Moreover, when you broaden the lens and include more about context, who the offender is depends on which moment in time you are referring to, and from which perspective you choose to look. In the larger scheme of things, there is no easily defined line that can be drawn between offenders and victims, as it is a muddled mix of choices made in the past, and in real time and embedded in the future game plan.
May 05, 2011 Distinguishing, Theory
A visionary judge makes restorative justice come alive in Alabama
from Ken Kimsey's entry on Fairness Works:
In a six-part video series, Judge McCooey talks passionately about her believe that justice requires much more than the court system provides, especially in the area of giving crime victims the opportunity to meet the offenders, face-to-face, in a safe place, and to do so on a voluntary basis. (If you walk out of here and find someone has stolen your car radio, chances are you don’t have much interest in meeting the thief, she says in one segment. But the more deeply you have been hurt, the more likely you want to meet the offender and ask questions like “why?”.)
As appealing as her speaking style and warmth is her story about the unorthodox path that led her to the bench. Serving as a judge was never in her long-range plans, but when she won her first election against a well-established Montgomery lawyer, surprising herself in the process, she knew there were some new thing she wanted to try. Finding ways of implementing a restorative justice program was among them, and she set about methodically but quietly to make this happen.
May 04, 2011 Court, Justice, Community, Diversion, Region: North America and Caribbean, Judge, Country:USA
