Prisons, rehabilitation and justice

by Lynette Parker

Recently, I read an article about the struggles faced by the state of Florida after the US Supreme Court banned sentences of life without parole for juveniles who do not kill anyone. In the discussion over the need to revisit cases and re-sentence the offenders, one retired judge was quoted:

“There are no resources in prisons for rehabilitation,'' the former judge said. ``You give him 30 years, and he'll get out when he's 45, what's he going to do? Re-offend. Some people, regardless of their age, need to be put away forever.” 

Oct 15, 2010 Dialogue, Offender, Community, Other, Victim, Prison, Correspondent:Lynette Parker, Transformation, Conflict, Restitution

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Michael Vick, Bill Simmons, forgiveness and restorative justice

from Eliyahu Fink's post on Pacific Jewish Center:

Bill Simmons (aka The Sports Guy) wrote a recent [espn.com] column about Michael Vick and his comeback.

....Simmons writes that Vick emerged as the “feel good story” of the NFL. But his wife disagrees. The Sports Gal cannot forgive Vick. The Sports Gal says that if you love dogs, you cannot possibly forgive Vick. Sport Guy retorts that Vick did everything humanly possibly to pay for his crimes, apologize and rehabilitate his life. He lost EVERYTHING. He said he was genuinely sorry. He is fixing what he broke. Vick is a real Restorative Justice story. And Bill Simmons forgives him. Mrs. Simmons loves dogs too much to forgive Vick.

The article is a great read and I recommend reading it.

Oct 08, 2010 Forgiveness, Victim, Apology, Offender

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