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- Showing 10 posts published between May 01, 2012 and May 31, 2012 [Show all]
Cause – Restorative justice can be fun!
from the post by Allyson Cole on Family Guiding:
The morning began standing in a circle with about 15 grimacing faces with heads hanging low to the ground. Interspersed among these glum beings were about five overly positive adult volunteers excited to get an early 8 am start in the garden. What a combination of folks; those who were forced to be here by their probation officers and those who were volunteering their precious time to offer growing food as an alternative to picking up trash, so these, seemingly ungrateful, teenagers could earn mandated community service hours.
May 31, 2012 Community Service
Effective, even alone: Co-keep a restorative justice circle
from the post by Kirs Miner in Restorative Justice and Circles:
....Even if you are the only one assigned to be ‘keeping’ the Circle, know that your Circle will be more effective, if you view every person in the Circle as your co-keeper. I say things like “everyone is both teacher and student”. We honor the equal worth of every person, by having that respect and showing it to each person. That plays out into Circles where each person feels and experiences personal growth.
From telephones to restorative justice: It’s all about making connections
from the post by Ted Lewis on Barron Country Restorative Justice Programs:
Phone connections have linked up people for over a century now, helping them to communicate better over distances. The technologies have certainly changed from decade to decade, (and now from year to year), but the common thread throughout phone history is that people who are far apart can communicate as if they are next to each other.
May 29, 2012 Support
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
Parole, release and restorative justice: Minister and National Council for Correctional Services
from the Summary of the Parliamentary Monitoring Group meeting:
The meeting provided an opportunity for the Portfolio Committee (PC) to engage with the Minister and the National Council for Correctional Services (NCCS) on matters of parole and release, with particular emphasis on the position of those sentenced to life imprisonment (lifers) and the role of the restorative justice processes.
May 25, 2012 Offender, Reentry, Practice, Community, Country:South Africa, Region: Africa
Treaty settlements process: Restorative justice in action
from the article on Te Puni Kokiri:
The Treaty of Waitangi settlements process is restorative justice in action says Māori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples.
Speaking at the launch of JustSpeak’s paper on Māori and the Criminal Justice System, he recalled the recent settlement of five Treaty of Waitangi claims.
May 24, 2012 Country:New Zealand, Region: Pacific, National Reconciliation
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
Taylor war crimes verdict incomplete justice
from the article by Carina Ray in the Bradenton Herald:
The conviction of former Liberian President Charles Taylor amounts to only partial justice.
While many Sierra Leoneans are relieved to see Taylor finally convicted for his destructive role in their country's brutal civil war, his wanton destabilization elsewhere in West Africa hardly figured in the criminal proceedings against him.
May 18, 2012 Country:Liberia, Region: Africa, Country:Sierra Leone, National Reconciliation
