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Showing 10 posts filed under: Conference [–] [Show all]

Gwent police officer tackles crime by bringing criminals face-to-face with their victims

From the article on WalesOnline:

A police officer is tackling crime in a different way – by bringing criminals face to face with their victims.

PC Hayley Nowell became part of the team at Blaenau Gwent and Caerphilly Youth Offending Service (YOS) last year to work on a restorative justice programme.

It involves victims of crime meeting the offenders to explain the effect their actions have had.

PC Nowell described the tactic as “powerful” and said it has proven results in reducing repeat offending.

Jun 18, 2013 , , ,

Broadening Restorative Perspective: An International Conference

In June 2013, the Victorian Association for Restorative Justice, Restorative Practices International and the Neighbourhood Justice Centre will host an international conference exploring:

  • How well are restorative justice programmes known and understood?
  • How can stories be productively shared across disparate sectors and disciplines?
  • What turns good practice into common practice?
  • How creatively can restorative practices be applied?
  • How can justice processes be a source of inspiration and social change?

Nov 03, 2012 ,

Cameroon: Rights promoters advocate restorative justice

from the article on AllAfrica.com:

Experts on October 5 worked on the framework for effective restorative justice in Cameroon. "Restorative justice is a process where all stakeholders affected by a crime-that is, the offender, the victim, and their community are given the opportunity to discuss how they have been affected and to decide what should be done to repair the harm caused," the Chairman of the National Commission on Human Rights and Freedoms, Dr Divine Chemuta Banda said in Yaounde on October 5, 2012 while opening the one-day seminar on restorative justice in Cameroon. He added that it comes to complement the traditional justice system.

Oct 31, 2012 ,

Releasing control

by Lynette Parker

As a facilitator, I occasionally face situations that give me pause. Do I really want to facilitate this case? Am I competent to facilitate such a case? There are times I walk into the situation with real concerns and doubts, but simply have to trust the process.

Aug 28, 2012 , , , ,

Restorative Justice in the Greater Manchester Police

from the report by Baxter, Schoeman and Goffin called Innovation in justice: New delivery models and better outcomes:

....The first of the five aims, to reduce crime, is an area where GMP has had significant success in recent years. A key part of the crime reduction strategy is to “make more use of Restorative Justice to give victims the opportunity to challenge offenders and make them understand the consequences of their behaviour”. In a criminal Justice context, victims are given the chance to tell offenders the real impact of their crime, to get answers and to get an apology. This helps offenders understand the real impact of what they’ve done and holds them to account for it while also helping victims to get on with their lives.

To some extent, RJ runs counter to the culture that developed within police forces in response to central government targets because it can adversely affect the statistics traditionally used to assess police performance. Performance was measured against targets such as the numbers of sanctioned detections (where an offender is charged, cautioned, reported for summons, reprimanded, the offence is taken into consideration or where a fixed penalty notice is issued), the numbers of stop and search events and numbers of arrests. The last of these central government policing targets was removed in 2010.

Mar 09, 2012 , , , , , , , ,

Review: Restorative justice in practice: Evaluating what works for victims and offenders.

Joanna Shapland, Gwen Robinson, and Angela Sorsby (2011). Restorative justice in practice: Evaluating what works for victims and offenders. Oxford, UK: Taulor & Francis Group Ltd. Paperback. 227 pages.

by Eric Assur

Three British criminology researchers and educators, affiliated with the University of Sheffield, have offered a very rich book on the use of victim-offender mediation programs (what they call schemes) in adult criminal justice venues in England. 

Most early Restorative Justice (RJ) writing has focused on juvenile justice programs, generally with a concentration on diversionary approaches for first time offenders. The Shapland, Robinson and Sorsby book looks exclusively and intensely at three ‘schemes’ and several hundred ‘cases’ involving adults. The criminal justice programs they studied were funded by the British Ministry of Justice – Home Office between 2001 and 2008.  They worked with adults at arrest, while going through the courts and even with some while imprisoned.  

Mar 02, 2012 , , , , , , , ,

Restorative practices in Hungary: An ex-prisoner is reintegrated into the community

from the article by Vidia Negrea:

As the representative of Community Service Foundation of Hungary, the Hungarian affiliate of the International Institute for Restorative Practices (IIRP), I participated in a group session of the Hungarian Crime Prevention and Prison Mission Foundation in summer 2009 (Sycamore Tree Project — or Zacchaeus Program in Hungary). There I met the governor of Balassagyarmat prison, where inmates were working in groups on issues related to their crimes and exploring ways to repair relationships they had damaged.

Some inmates began accepting responsibility for what they had done and were motivated to make things right and earn forgiveness of victims and their families. Prisoners made symbolic reparation in the form of community service within the prison, but there was still a lot to do to create opportunities for offenders to make contact with victims and shed the stigma of their offense by means of direct reparation. Also, prison management believed it important to support processes, acceptable to victimized families and communities, to help prisoners regain control of their lives and prevent reoffending.

Nov 22, 2011 , , , , , , , , ,

Pioneer justice scheme is working in Norfolk

From the article by Peter Walsh:

Norfolk Constabulary is committed to becoming part of the first truly restorative county in the country by 2015 and has been singled out as a force which actively promotes restorative justice by bringing victims and offenders together to discuss an outcome without it having to go through the court system.

More than 17,000 people have been through the restorative justice process since November 2007 with a total of 4,611 interventions.

Oct 24, 2011 , , ,

The Salvation Army and restorative justice

from the article in The Dignity Project:

“I will never forget my first brush with injustice” says Matt Delaney. “I was so hurt. I wanted pay back. I wanted to retaliate, to return the favour that I didn’t ask for. I did fight back. Strange though, after I unleashed my vengeance, all I felt was empty and alone. What was wrong with me? Where was the justice I was looking for? Why didn’t I feel justified?

Apr 01, 2011 , , , , , ,

No script for the journey

 
I recently started reading The spirit and art of conflict transformation: Creating a culture of justpeace by Thomas Porter. Early in the book he says, “The work of conflict transformation is best described as the art of improvisation. Human interaction cannot be programmed, and there is no script for this journey.” Mentally, I said, “You’ve got that right.”

Feb 07, 2011 , , , , ,

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