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- Showing 10 posts filed under: Policy [–] published between May 01, 2010 and May 31, 2010 [Show all]
Catholic church prays for abuse victims and abusers
from Thelma Etim's article on BBC News:
While the victims of abuse at the hands of Roman Catholic clergy continue their fight for justice and reparation, bishops in the Church have invited parishioners in England and Wales to make the four Fridays in the month special days of prayer for children abused by priests.
May 27, 2010 Policy, Country:England&Wales, Region: Europe, Case:Sexual
Ann Arbor schools need to move to a restorative justice model of discipline
from the guest column by Joe Summers:
Over the past year, the children of two sets of friends have gotten into trouble giving me a chance to watch our current system in practice. In one case, I heard teacher after teacher testify that the youth had been exceptional, and never caused harm, only to be astounded to hear a panel of principals and vice principals rule that the youth should be permanently expelled from Ann Arbor's school system.
May 26, 2010 Policy, School, Region: North America and Caribbean, Country:USA
Restorative Justice and Campus Conduct Administration
In March, Eastern Mennonite University hosted a symposium exploring the use of restorative practices in college campus conduct administration. These short YouTube videos feature two of the participants describing their experiences with using restorative practices to respond to student misconduct.
Josh Bacon, the director of Judicial Affairs at James Madison University in Virginia, describes how implementing restorative practices rejuvenated his career.It gives him the opportunity to interact with students and community members.
May 14, 2010 Story, School, Video, Region: North America and Caribbean, Policy, Country:USA
Just care: Restorative justice approaches to working with children in public care.
More and more schools are turning to restorative methods,` often helped by Belinda Hopkins’s previous book Just schools. Now she has applied the same principles to meeting the needs of the troubled and troublesome children who are looked after in state institutions. The ethos is similar, and the approach is spelt out clearly for those who do not have previous knowledge of it, with numerous diagrams and a good index. The examples are chosen to reflect the needs of the staff in children’s homes; others such as youth workers and foster parents could also find this book helpful.
May 11, 2010 Policy, School, Correspondent:Martin Wright, Manual
On the efficacy of victim-offender-mediation in cases of partnership violence in Austria, or: Men don’t get better, but women get stronger: Is it still true? Outcomes of an empirical study
from the study by Christa Pelikan:
Put in a nutshell, the core finding of this study reads thus: The efficacy of VOM in cases partnership violence is to a large part due to the empowerment of the women victims, but partly, albeit to a smaller percentage, also due to an inner change, to insight and following from that a change of behaviour on the side of the male perpetrators. These achievements cannot be understood except as part of a comprehensive societal change – a change of collective mentalities, or in other words: change of expectations1 regarding the use of violence in intimate partnerships.
May 11, 2010 Policy, Country:Austria, Case:Domestic Violence, Region: Europe
Equity leaders learn how to take restorative justice beyond the circle
from Rob Faulkner's article on Media@HWDSB:
When the term “restorative justice” is used in education circles, many educators will think of, well, circles. The best-known tool associated with the RJ approach is likely the blame-free, multi-party conversation in the round that lets the person who caused harm and the person harmed find a solution.
But it’s certainly not the only way to use RJ.
May 07, 2010 School, Practice, Policy, Region: North America and Caribbean, Country:Canada, Teacher
What if ... restorative justice?
from Ben Shackelford, Matt Ryan and Sam Withers's article on Our American Generation:
Restorative justice (RJ) programs may serve as an effective alternative for handling many criminal offences. RJ originated in indigenous communities where conflicts between individuals were handled in a holistic and collaborative manner, instead of a top-down, linear approach. According to this method, crimes are interpreted as unhealthy actions and symptoms of unhealthy relationships. Thus, group arbitration attempted to heal.
Today, RJ programs come in many different shapes and sizes, all paying much deference to the impact a criminal offense makes upon victims and the larger community. RJ offers a mediation platform that allows the offender, victim, community members, and government actors a role in arbitrating the conflict.
Victims are given the chance to articulate to offenders the ways in
which they were hurt by the crime. This is an opportunity that they
often are not afforded in our current court process, and one reason why
the majority of victims find the current justice system unsatisfactory.
After hearing the victim, offenders have to acknowledge the harm they
have caused; they cannot escape the impact they have made on victims,
and thus are unable to shift the guilt away. Offenders are able to
describe their motivations for offending as well as the circumstances
surrounding their offense.
By giving community members a role in arbitration, the community is
able to establish boundaries while also offering support. The community
is also made aware of the way in which it might have failed both the
victim and offender in allowing the conflict to take place. When
community members are active in the adjudication process, offenders face
less stigma and have a better chance reintegrating.
After victims, offenders and community members have been given the chance to describe what the offense meant to them, the dialogue focuses on restitution. The offender is made responsible for restoring the victim to the best of their abilities. Obviously, this means something different for every crime and every victim.
Best Practice Guidance for Restorative Justice Practitioners and their Case Supervisors and Line Managers (Scotland)
from the Introduction:
The primary aim of restorative justice is to address or repair the harm caused by an incident or offence. The processes used to achieve this objective can intersect with formal systems or institutions in a number of ways. But it is worth remembering that restorative justice processes can arise naturally and (more or less) spontaneously, without the need for third-party intervention. Expressions of remorse, making amends, healing and reconciliation happen all the time: relationships, families, organisations and society would quickly break down if this were not the case.
There are cases, however, where the incident or offence is so serious or complex that it comes to the attention of someone in authority: for example, a parent, teacher, supervisor, manager, police officer, children's reporter, procurator fiscal, sheriff, and so on.
The restorative justice ideal is that, whatever else needs to happen, the authority in question gives consideration to what can be done to address or repair the harm that has been caused.
May 06, 2010 Country:Scotland, Practice, Manual, Region: Europe, Policy
Twilight for campus legal codes? Talking circles aid the aftermath of destructively drunk students and more.
from Bonnie Price Lofton's article in The Mennonite:
After more than a decade of ushering misbehaving students at James Madison University (JMU), Harrisonburg, Va., through hearings, sanctions and other legalistic steps, Josh Bacon wanted a change.
"I went into educational leadership and student affairs because I cared about young adults and their futures," he says. "But that’s not how they perceived me—they saw me as the 'bad guy,' somebody there to enforce the university's rules, somebody who wasn’t on their side.'
Seeking a fresh approach, Bacon signed up for a restorative justice course at Eastern Mennonite University, Harrisonburg, taught by an internationally recognized pioneer in the restorative justice field, Howard Zehr.
May 05, 2010 School, Manual, Region: North America and Caribbean, Policy, Country:USA
UK restorative justice pre-election special report from Restorative Justice Consortium
from RJC's April e-Bulletin:
In the first televised election debate the party leaders were asked how they will make our country a safer place to live and work. Nick Clegg, Leader of the Liberal Democrats, said: “What I’ve seen in my city of Sheffield is that you get these youngsters not when they have done serious crimes, when they are first starting to get into trouble to face their victims, explain why they have done what they have done to their victims, apologise for what they’ve done, make up for what they have done in the community, cleaning up parks and streets. It has a dramatic effect on their behaviour. I want to change people’s behaviour before they become the criminals of tomorrow.” (ITV Player 19mins:16sec)
May 03, 2010 Policy, Politics, Support, Country:England&Wales, Region: Europe
