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- Showing 7 posts filed under: Region: North America and Caribbean [–] published between May 01, 2012 and May 31, 2012 [Show all]
First Nations court seen as path out of vicious cycle
from the article by Mike Youds for the Kamloops Daily News:
Local bands have asked for a First Nations court to be established in Kamloops, delegates heard Thursday at an Aboriginal justice forum at TRU.
The forum focused on the Aboriginal sentencing principles of Gladue, recently reaffirmed by the Supreme Court of Canada, while hosting Justice Marion Buller Bennett of First Nations court in New Westminster.
May 28, 2012 Country:Canada, Court, Region: North America and Caribbean, Indigenous
Crime and entertainment at Franklin High
from the article by Rick Holmes in MetroWest Daily News:
When outrage-inducing incidents become media sensations, the authorities respond with the tools they have available. Educators point to politically popular “zero tolerance” policies.
....Police charge the thugs with whatever laws they can find — even unlawful wire tapping — and set the wheels of justice turning. There will be lawyers and hearings and plea bargains, fines and probably time behind bars.
May 23, 2012 School, Story, Region: North America and Caribbean, Policy, Politics, Country:USA
Art helps heal crime's wounds
from the article by Howard Zehr in the Philadelphia Inquirer:
I admit it. Sometimes I have Philly envy. Philadelphia has a Mural Arts Program, and the community in which I live does not.
....I have been drawn to the arts as a way of reframing the challenges of crime and trauma. The arts can engage the whole person to express or understand the harm done and help harness heart and intelligence to reduce isolation. The arts can provide a way to explore what can be done to give back, and to give voice to the full range of human experience. The act of creation can restore a sense of meaning and agency to those who harmed and those who have been harmed.
May 22, 2012 Restitution, Region: North America and Caribbean, Country:USA, Prison
Smart on crime: Why reforming criminal justice is now a Conservative issue
from the article in The Economist:
....It is not only in Britain that criminal-justice reform has become a right-wing issue. The Right on Crime initiative, a creation of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a think-tank, counts leading Republicans such as Newt Gingrich and Jeb Bush among the fans of its campaign to divert more offenders from prisons to non-custodial sentences. Half of all American states voted to reduce the use of custody last year.
There is plenty of room for relaxation in punitive America, which locks up almost one in 100 people (England and Wales put away fewer than one in 500). But similar forces are at work in both places. Fiscal pressure is mounting. Overall crime rates are falling. And stubborn reoffending rates suggest that some things are not working.
Prisons are one of them.
May 21, 2012 Country:England&Wales, Region: Europe, Region: North America and Caribbean, Policy, Politics, Country:USA
First Nations Court opens in North Vancouver
from the article by Todd Coyne in the North Shore Outlook:
The judge is out of her usual judging clothes and the court sheriff wears no gun.
It’s not immediately apparent — not at first — if these are just oversights, but when Judge Joanne Challenger turns from the convicted man to the packed public gallery and asks for any suggestions on sentencing and the hands go up, it becomes clear: First Nations Court is different.
May 16, 2012 Minority, Guideline, Region: North America and Caribbean, Policy, Indigenous, Country:USA, Theory
Angel Ruelas pleads guilty to murder of Pacific Grove teen
from the story by Virginia Hennessey for the Mercury News:
The brother of murder victim Kristopher Eric Olinger and the man who unexpectedly admitted killing the Monterey High School student hope to find some peace as part of the "restorative justice" program.
Angel Ruelas' plea Tuesday was a stunning development that came nearly 15 years after Olinger's horrific murder, six years after the defendant's arrest and moments before a pool of prospective jurors were brought into the courtroom for trial.
May 14, 2012 Policy, Case:Homicide, Region: North America and Caribbean, Country:USA
Growing past hate: 'Restorative justice' helps heal pain from teens' vandalism
from the article by Fred Van Liew in the DesMoines Register:
In March of 1994 members of the Temple B’nai Jeshurun in Des Moines awoke to find neo-Nazi graffiti scrawled on the side of their synagogue. There were no immediate suspects, but there was anguish, anger and outrage.
May 09, 2012 Court, Case:Hate Crime, Country:USA, Region: North America and Caribbean, Policy, Prosecutor
